
Class. 
Bock. 



PRESENTED BY 



JEHOVAH-JIREH 



TREATISE 



PROVIDENCE. 



WILLIAM S. PLUMER, D.D.,LL.D., 

PROFESSOR OF DIDACTIC AND POLEMIC THEOLOGY IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
AT COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA. 



I would assert eternal Providence, 
And justify the ways of God to men. 



RICHMOND 
PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OE PUBLICATION, 

18 67. 



ft 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by 

WILLIAM S. PLUMER, D.D.,LL.D. 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 




/2> /9+0 



^y 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Providence asserted 5 

CHAPTER II. 
Providence defined 12 

CHAPTER in. 

God's Providence results from his nature — it is holt, just, benevolent, 
wise, supreme and sovereign, sure and stable, powerful and irresistible. 16 

CHAPTER IY. 
God's works of providence are vast 35 

CHAPTER V. 
Practical Remarks on Chapters III and IV 38 

CHAPTER VI. 
God's providence is retributive 45 

CHAPTER VII. 

Some explanation of the delays of providence in punishing the wicked. 
How divine forbearance should be regarded ; and how it mat be abused. 59 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Several principles of the doctrine of providence over bad men, illustrated 
in the life and end of Judas Iscariot 74 

CHAPTER IX. 

God's providence is often mysterious 106 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

PACT 

Mysteries of Providence.— Continued 121 

CHAPTER XI. 
Practical Remarks on Chapters IX and X 131 

CHAPTER XII. 
The special kindness of providence towards good men , 137 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The special kindness of providence towards good men.— Continued 151 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Practical Remarks on Chapters XII and XIII 161 

CHAPTER XV. 

Alternate light and darkness in providence, illustrated in the case of 

THE GREAT MAN OF Uz 167 

CHAPTER XVI. 

God's Providence towards his church renders unnecessary all tormenting 
fears respecting her safety and final triumph 186 

CHAPTER XVII. 
God's providence over nations 202 

CHAPTER XVni. 
Providence punishes nations for their sins, 217 



JEHOVAH-JIREH. 







CHAPTER I. 

PROVIDENCE ASSERTED. 

A ND Abraham called the name of that place 
Jehovah-jireh; as it is said to this day, In the 
mount of the Lord it shall be seen. 

Behold the fowls of the air: they sow not, neither 
do they reap, nor gather into barns: yet your 
heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better 
than they? . . . Consider the lilies of the field 
how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 
and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his 
glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if 
God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, 
and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not 
much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 

Jesus Christ. 

In the hand of the Lord is the soul of every living 

thing, and the heart of all mankind. Job. 

] * 5 



b JEHOYAH-JIKEH. 

God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity 
in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliver- 
ance. So now it was not you that sent me hither but 
God. Joseph. 

As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Moses. 

The Lord is King for ever and ever. David. 

O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest be- 
tween the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou 
alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Hezekiah. 

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, 
and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that 
stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth 
them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth the 
princes to nothing: he maketh the judges of the earth 
as vanity. Isaiah. 

The Lord is the true God, he is the living God and 
an everlasting King. . . . O Lord, I know that 
the way of man is not in himself. Jeremiah. 

In him we live and move and have our being. 

Paul. 

Ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, 
and do this, or that. James. 

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of 



PROVIDENCE ASSERTED. 7 

temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of 
judgment to be punished. Peter. 

Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 

Much People in Heaven. 

He who ruleth the raging of the sea, knows also 
how to check the designs of the ungodly. — I submit 
myself with reverence to his Holy will. Racine. 

God's power as well as his wisdom gives him a 
right to govern the world: nothing can equal him, 
therefore nothing can share the command with him. 
. . . He can hold all things in the world together, 
and preserve them in those functions wherein he 
settled them, and conduct them to those ends, for 
which he designed them. Charnock. 

A sense of the divine care and favour has been in 
all ages the support of the church and the consolation 
of good men. No thought can enter into the mind of 
man, better adapted to promote its piety and peace 
than this — -that the world is under the government of 
God, and all the events of our lives under the direc- 
tion of his providence. Orton. 

The belief in providence is the necessary supple- 
ment to the belief in inspiration. Westcott. 

From all the acts of God as recorded in the Scrip- 
tures, we are taught that he alone is God; that he is 






8 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

present everywhere to sustain and govern all things: 
that his wisdom is infinite, his counsel settled, and his 
power irresistible; that he is holy, just, and good; the 
Lord and the Judge — but the Father and the Friend of 
man. Watson's Institutes. 

I adore and kiss the providence of my Lord, who 
knoweth well what is most expedient for me, and for 
you, and your children. Rutherford. 

A God without dominion, without providence and 
final causes is nothing but fate and nature. 

Sir Isaac Newton. 

To infer from that passage of holy Scripture, 
wherein God is said to have rested from his works, 
that there is no longer a continual production of them, 
would be to make a very ill use of that text. 

Leibnitz. 

There is an immediate and constant superintendence 
exercised over the whole creation, and what we term 
laws of nature are but the operations of divine power 
in a regular and uniform manner. Dr. Godwin. 

The philosopher, who overlooks the traces of an all- 
governing Deity in nature, contenting himself with 
the appearances of the material universe only, and the 
mechanical laws of motion, neglects what is most ex- 
cellent; and prefers what is imperfect to what is 



PROVIDENCE ASSERTED. 



9 



supremely perfect, finitude to infinity, what is narrow 
and weak to what is unlimited and almighty, and 
what is perishing to what endures for ever. 

Maclaubin. 

We cannot conceive of any reasons that can influence 
the Deity to exercise any providence over the world, 
which are not likewise reasons for extending it to all 
that happens in the world. Price. 

Though troubles assail, 

And dangers affright, 
Though friends should all fail, 

And foes all unite ; 
Yet one thing secures us, 

Whatever betide, 
The Scripture assures us 

The Lord will provide. Newton. 



Yes, Thou art ever present, Power Supreme ! 

Not circumscribed by Time, nor fixed to Space, 

Confined to altars, nor to temples bound, 

In Wealth, in Want, in Freedom or in Chains, 

In Dungeons or on Thrones, the faithful find thee ! 

Hannah More. 

We believe that all things, both in heaven and in 
earth, and in all creatures, are sustained and governed 
by the providence of this wise, eternal, and omnipotent 
God. Latter Confession of Helvetia. 

We believe that this most gracious and mighty 
God, after he had made all things left them nut to be 

A* 



10 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

ruled after the will of chance or fortune, but himself 
doth so continually rule and govern them, according 
to the prescript rule of his holy will, that nothing can 
happen in this world without his decree or ordinance. 

Confession of Belgta. 

We believe, that God made all things by his ever- 
lasting Word, that is, by his only begotten Son; and 
that he upholdeth and worketh all things by his Spirit, 
that is by his own power: and therefore that God as 
he hath created, so he foreseeth and governeth all 
things. Confession of Basle. 

When men bring themselves to think that Jehovah 
is too great a being to interfere in the affairs of this 
lower world, they are prepared, by this infidel senti- 
ment, to adopt any evil course which may suggest it- 
self to the depraved inclinations of the human heart. 

Morison. 

God reigns is a logical sequence from God is. To 
deny God's providence is as atheistical as to deny his 
existence. A God, who neither sees, nor hears, nor 
knows, nor cares, nor helps, nor saves, is a vanity, and 
can never claim homage from intelligent men. Such 
a god should be derided, not worshipped. He might 
suit the mythology of Paganism, or meet the demands 
of an infidel heart, but could never command the 
allegiance, or win the confidence of an enlightened 



PROVIDENCE ASSERTED. 11 

and pious man. Yet there have been and still are 
those, who deny Providence. They "encourage them- 
selves in an evil matter; they commune of laying 
snares privily ; they say, Who shall see them ?" Ps. 
Ixiv. 5. Some say outright, "God hath forgotten, he 
hideth his face, he will never see it." Ps. x. 11. 
Nothing more derogatory to the character of God can 
possibly be said, than that he does not rule the world. 
To bring into existence and then forsake a race of 
beings, and care no more for them would argue a 
total want of the moral attributes of divinity. Such 
conduct may well comport with the character of false 
gods, but is wholly abhorrent to the nature of Jehovah. 
The world may as well be without a God, as have one 
who is incompetent to rule it, or, who, wrapping him- 
self in a mantle of infinite indifference, abandons crea- 
tion to the governance of puny mortals, to the rule of 
devils, or to the .sway of a blind fortuity. "The os- 
trich leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them 
in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush 
them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is 
hardened against her young ones, as though they were 
not hers." Job xxxix. 14-1 6. Thus this bird fulfils the 
instincts of her nature. Yet in so doing she proves 
that she is one of the lowest orders of irrational ani- 
mals. But God's tender mercies are over all his 
works. His kingdom ruleth over all. 



12 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 



CHAPTER II. 

PROVIDENCE DEFINED. 

PROVIDENCE is the care of God over created 
being; divine superintendence. Johnson. 

Providence is the care and superintendence which 
God exercises over his creatures. Webster. 

Providence is the divine superintendence over all 
created beings; the care of God over his creatures. 

Worcester. 

Providence is that by which anything is foreseen be- 
fore it takes place. Cicero. 

The doctrine of divine Providence is, that all things 
are sustained, directed, and controlled by God. 

Dr. Leonard Woods. 

By the law of providence, I intend God's sovereign 
disposal of all the concernments of men in this world, 
in the variety, order, and manner, which he pleaseth, 
according to the rule and infinite reason of his own 
goodness, wisdom, righteousness, and truth. 

John Owen. 



PROVIDENCE DEFINED. 13 

The word providence is taken from the Latin, and 
by its etymology means foresight, not merely in the 
sense of seeing before but in the sense of taking care 
for the future, or rather an ordering of things and 
events after a pre-determined and intelligent plan; it 
supposes wisdom to devise and power to execute. 

Bethtjne. 

Providence is the superintendence and care which 
God exercises over creation. Buck. 

Providence is the care which God takes of all 
things, to uphold them in being and to direct them to 
the ends which he has determined to accomplish by 
them, so that nothing takes place in which he is not 
concerned in a manner worthy of his infinite perfec- 
tions, and which is not in unison with the counsels of 
his will. Dick. 

God's conserving all things means his actual opera- 
tion and government in preserving and continuing 
the being, powers, dispositions, and motions of all 
things. Clarke. 

The providence of God is his almighty and every- 
where present power, whereby as it were by hand, he 
upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; 
so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful 
and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, 



14 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by 
chance, but by his fatherly hand. 

Heidelberg Catechism. 

God's works of providence are his most holy, 
wise, and powerful preserving and governing all 
his creatures and all their actions. 

Westminster Assembly. 

According to preceding views and to the Scriptures, 
God's providence consists, 

1. In his preserving all that he has made. He up- 
holds all things by the word of his power. Heb. i. 3. 
" The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them 
their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand 
and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." Ps. 
cxlv. 15, 16. This dependence of creatures is univer- 
sal and perpetual. Could one link in the chain 
thereof be broken, the least evil that would follow 
would be annihilation. 

2. In governing all that he has made. First, he 
restrains the creature. By the law of gravitation he 
keeps solid worlds in their places. By the power of 
his hand he withholds free agents from evil both 
natural and moral. Secondly, he guides his creatures. 
It is his voice that rolls the stars along, and marshals 
all the host of heaven, and works wonders among the 



PROVIDENCE DEFINED. 15 

inhabitants of the earth. Without him atoms and 
planets, angels and devils, saints and sinners can do 
nothing. John xix. 11; 2 Chron. xxxii. 31; Acts xiv. 
16; Ps. lxxvi. 10. 



16 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 



CHAPTER III. 

God's providence results from his nature — it 
is holy, just, benevolent, wise, supreme and 
sovereign, sure and stable, powerful and 
irresistible. 

r|lHE world over, the unrenewed heart is pagan in 
-*- its inclinations. It does not like to retain God in 
its thoughts. The Epicurean doctrine, that God is too 
exalted to notice the affairs of men, naturally flows 
from the ignorance and enmity of the carnal mind. 
But " shall I not do as I please with mine own ?" is 
the challenge of the Almighty. To manage the affairs 
of the universe cannot disturb the divine tranquility. 
To him, that made all things by the word of his power, 
the care of them cannot be burdensome. God is not 
like man. He never grows weary. That he has a 
right to establish an all-pervading government over 
his creatures is as certain as that he has any rights at 
all. Were our hearts not wrong, we should glory in 
his providence ; and were our minds not feeble and 
our faculties not limited, we should see that all objec- 



PROPERTIES OF PROVIDENCE. 17. 

tion to God's care of the world was worse than 
frivolous. 

In this age it is commonly admitted that the Lord 
liveth and ruleth in the kingdoms of men. This is 
the avowed theory. The practical belief of many is 
quite diverse. There are not a few whose prevailing 
plans and fears and hopes would hardly be more prac- 
tically atheistic if they should avow disbelief of God's 
existence and of the divine government over human 
affairs. Were God, in open day, before their eyes, 
miraculously to suspend the laws of nature, they might 
for a time, perhaps, be impressed and confess that here 
was the finger of God. It is probable, however, that 
this impression would not be lasting. For in his 
ceaseless support and maintenance of the course of 
nature, such men perceive nothing to admire, nothing 
to adore. Were the hand that moves all worlds to 
arrest the sun in the heavens and cause him to stand 
still for even an hour, they might say, This is the 
Lord. But the sun may rise, and run his race, and 
duly set three hundred and sixty-five times in the 
year, and nothing is said or thought of him, at whose 
rebuke the pillars of heaven tremble, and by whose 
ordinance the everlasting mountains and the order of 
universal nature have their stability. "A brutish man 
knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand." Ps. 
xoii. 6. Such men virtually or actually say: "The 

2* 



18 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

Lord doth not see, nor doth the God of Jacob regard." 
Ps. xciv. 7. To correct such errors is one object of 
revelation. Scripture puts the stamp of profaneness 
on all such thoughts as allow men to believe that they 
may act independently of God. 

God is above all law, being himself absolutely inde- 
pendent and supreme. His own infinitely excellent 
nature is the law of his being and of his action. This 
very nature fits him in all respects to be the ruler of 
the world. 

God's providence is holy. — Because God is holy, 
his providence is holy in all its works. He plots no 
mischief, works no evil, favors no sin; but in the 
winding up of human affairs, he will bring a terrible 
overthrow on all the workers of iniquity. He hates 
sin with a perfect hatred. To him it is a horrible 
thing. Jer. v. 30. It cannot be proven that God 
hates anything but sin. Nor has any mortal an ade- 
quate conception of the intensity of the aversion of the 
divine mind to every form and species of iniquity. 
"Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy 
name ? for thou only art holy." Rev. XV. 4. Indeed, the 
bliss of the heavenly world depends upon the absolute 
and unqualified confidence of saints and angels in the 
infinite rectitude of God's nature. Isa. vi. 3. " The 
Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his 
works." Ps. cxlv. 17. 



PROPERTIES OF PROVIDENCE. 19 

God's providence is just. — From God's holiness 
necessarily results his justice. Dr. Woods : " The 
plan of providence is such that sin will be stigmatized 
and sinners punished, while holiness will be honored, 
and those who are holy rewarded." Justice is cer- 
tainly an amiable attribute in any person or govern- 
ment. By a fiction of law under the British Constitu- 
tion, " The king can do no wrong." The reason is 
that his ministers are responsible. But it is no fiction 
of law or theology that the Judge of all the earth 
cannot but do right. Gen. xviii. 25. In the worship 
of the temple not made with hands, they sing, " Great 
and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; 
just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." 
Rev. xv. 3. 

God's providence is benevolent. — Indeed, God's 
tender mercies are over all his works. Ps. cxlv. 9. 
" The same benevolence, which prompted him to create 
the world, must prompt him to preserve and govern 
it." " When we consider the care of providence over 
the children of men, as it is manifested either in the 
works of nature or of grace, we naturally fall into the 
reflection, 'What is man, that thou art mindful of 
him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?' and 
we wonder to see so much done for men, who seem to 
have no merit or desert equal to the concern showed 
for them." 



20 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

God's providence is wise. — In it are no gaps, no 
failures, no mistakes, no oversights. "The same 
wisdom which contrived so wonderful and glorious a 
system can and will direct and control it." Because 
God's plans embrace all causes and all effects, all facts 
and all contingencies, all actions and all words, it is 
impossible that he should be overreached. It is 
infinitely easy for him to take the wise in their own 
craftiness. The greatest monarch of his time, one 
whose kingdom embraced much of the wealth, learn- 
ing, and civilization of the world, and who was sur- 
rounded by able men, said to his council of state: 
"Come on, let us deal wisely." Ex. i. 10. They 
formed their plans. From first to last they were en- 
compassed with difficulties. And they were followed 
by terrific judgments. Go now and stand with Moses 
and Aaron and Miriam on the banks of the Red Sea, 
and behold the end of all this 'wise dealing/ Pha- 
raoh, and his host, and his chosen captains are 
perished. The depths have covered them: they sank 
to the bottom as a stone: they sank as lead in the 
mighty waters. All the amazing operations of vege- 
tation are by inspired men ascribed to the Lord of 
hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in 
working. Isa. xxviii. 29. "O Lord, how manifold 
are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: 
the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and 



PROPERTIES OF PROVIDENCE. 21 

wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both 
small and great beasts." Ps. civ. 24, 25. 

God's providence is supreme, and therefore 
sovereign. — It is over all and above all. He has no 
divided dominion. He is sole arbiter of events and 
destinies. He says: "See now that I, even I, am he, 
and there is no God with me: I kill, and I make 
alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that 
can deliver out of my hand." Deut. xxxii. 39. "I am 
the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no 
God." Isa. xliv. 6. "I am the Lord, and there is 
none else, there is no God beside me, . . . there 
is no God else beside me: a just God and a Saviour; 
there is none beside me." Isa. xlv. 5, 21. So that 
it is as clear that God rules alone as that he rules at 
all, that he rules everywhere as that he rules any- 
where; that he governs all agents, all causes, and all 
events, as that he governs any of them. To surrender 
in whole or in part his control of the universe would 
be to admit that he was not God, that another was as 
strong, as wise, or as good as himself. Isa. xli. 23. It 
would argue some defect in him, who has all perfec- 
tion. An angel would be burdened with the sole 
charge of one man; because an angel is a finite crea- 
ture, and has none but derived attributes; but the care 
of the universe is no burden to the Almighty because 
he is God. His will is the law of all worlds. He 



22 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

stretched out the earth above the waters. "Whatso- 
ever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in 
earth, in the seas, and all deep places." Ps. cxxxv. 6. 
U A11 the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as 
nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the 
army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, 
What doest thou?" Dan. iv. 35. "The Lord is high 
above all nations, and his glory above the heavens." 
Ps. cxiii. 4. 

God's providence is sure and stable. — Whoever 
wishes to walk securely needs but to conform himself to 
its settled provisions and principles. Prov. x. 9. Never 
was there a sin that did not bring misery ; never was 
the human being born that did not make some impres- 
sion on the world ; never was there an effect without a 
cause; never did God change a principle of moral law; 
never did he abolish a physical law; never did the 
hand of the negligent make rich; never was it safe to 
make war on the natural affection even of brutes; 
never was there a time when the law of acquisition 
was not, To him that hath shall be given; never was 
there a time when destruction was not easy, and con- 
struction difficult; never was the general course of 
providence without its compensations, the Lord setting 
the day of adversity over against the day of prosperity, 
or comforting the heart of his troubled ones with the 



PROPERTIES OF PROVIDENCE. 23 

fact that the same afflictions are accomplished in their 
brethren. Greatly was the Psalmist comforted with 
this view of the stability of God's government: "For 
ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy 
faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast estab- 
lished the earth, and it abideth. They continue this 
day according to thine ordinances; for all are thy ser- 
vants." Ps. cxix. 89-91; compare Pr. xix. 21 and 
Josh, xxiii. 14. 

God's providence is powerful; yea, it is irre- 
sistible. — His providence not only consults; it also 
executes. It not only devises ; it also puts into opera- 
tion. It not only sees how evil may be prevented; it 
also prevents evil. It is so powerful that it even 
brings good out of evil; making bad men and fallen 
angels to serve God's designs, while they intend no 
such thing : giving the greatest efficiency to causes ap- 
parently the most contemptible; and infallibly secur- 
ing the accomplishment of the very best ends. The 
author of Providence is "the Lord, which is, and 
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." 
Rev. i. 8. All the other- attributes of God would not 
avail us, if he had not omnipotence, whereby to en- 
force and execute his will. All other properties of his 
providence would fail to give effectual consolation, if 
it lacked divine power. No marvel therefore that the 
Scriptures so frequently celebrate the triumphs of Om- 



24 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

nipotence. Otherwise the wicked would say, Where 
is their rock in whom they have trusted? As to the 
Assyrian, so to every foe, Jehovah says, "Because thy 
rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine 
ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and 
my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by 
the way by which thou earnest." 2 Kings xix. 28. It 
will be for an everlasting rejoicing to all the righteous 
that when God makes a covenant of peace with his 
people, he is able to cause the evil beasts to cease out 
of the land : so that his people may dwell safely in the 
wilderness, and sleep in the woods. By his almighty 
power he bringeth mariners out of their distresses. 
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves 
thereof are still. All conspiracies and combinations 
against providence are vain. Ezek. xxi. 21-23. 



PROVIDENCE VAST. 25 



CHAPTEE IV. 

god's works of providence are vast. 

/^i OD'S providence is over all creatures ; over fixed 
^* and planetary stars; over angels and devils; 
over saints and sinners ; over beasts, and birds, and 
fishes ; over globes and atoms ; over heat and cold ; 
over war, famine and pestilence ; over heaven, earth, 
and hell. Having enumerated the living creatures 
that God has made, the prophet says, " These wait all 
upon thee ; that thou mayest give them their meat in 
due season. That thou givest them they gather ; thou 
openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou 
hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away 
their breath, they die, and return to their dust." Ps. 
civ. 27-29. " Every good gift and every perfect gift 
is from above, and cometh down from the Father of 
lights." James i. 17. What hast thou that thou hast 
not received ? 1 Cor. iv. 7. It is because of this uni- 
versal providence of God that his people cry, " Be not 
thou far from me, O Lord : O my strength, haste thee 
to help rue," Ps. xxii. 19. And every pious man 



26 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

cries, " My cup runneth over," and " He loadetli me 
daily with benefits." Ps. xxiii. 5; lxviii. 19. Where 
is the man that can number up either his sins, or what 
are still more numerous, God's mercies to him? Com- 
pare Dan. iv. 35. 

God's providence is also over all the actions of all 
creatures. If any one could act independently, he 
would be a God. If Jehovah governs not a man for 
a day, that day he is a God. Independence is one of 
the essential attributes of Jehovah. Whoever has it is 
God. To put a single act of any creature beyond 
divine control would be an admission that besides the 
Most High there is some other God. Satan could do 
nothing against the holy man of Uz until the Almighty 
granted him permission. Job i. 12. 

The Bible adopts two methods of teaching the uni- 
versality of God's providence. In one it asserts it as 
a great truth. "He is a great King over all the earth." 
Ps. xlvii. 2. "His kingdom ruleth over all." Ps. 
ciii. 19. "By him all things consist." Col. i. 17. 
"He upholdeth all things by the word of his power." 
Heb. i. 3. "He hath on his vesture and on his thigh 
a name written, King op Kings and Lord of 
Lords." Rev. xix. 16. To him death and hell have 
no covering. Job xxvi. 6. 

Again the Scripture descends to particulars, and 
declares that over each being and event God exercises 



PROVIDENCE VAST. 27 

sovereign control. "He that planted the ear, shall he 
not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? he 
that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he 
that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?" 
Ps. xciv. 9, 10. He never slumbers, nor sleeps, nor 
goes on a journey. He is ever awake. His ear is 
ever open to the cry of his people. He is never sick, 
never weary. He fainteth not. His eyes are in every 
place, beholding the evil and the good. He numbers 
the very hairs of our heads. Not a sparrow falleth to 
the ground without his notice. He looketh to the ends 
of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; to 
make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the 
waters by measure. He made a decree for the rain, 
and a way for the lightning of the thunder. Job xxviii. 
24-27. He directs journeys and makes them prosper- 
ous. 1 Thes. iii. 11; Rom. i. 10. He causeth the 
grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service 
of man. Ps. civ. 14. He suffereth not cattle to de- 
crease. Ps. cvii. 38. He giveth to the beast his 
food, and to the young ravens which cry. Ps. 
cxlvii. 9. 

He calls the stars by their names. He marshalleth 
all the host of heaven. He spreads the clouds in the 
heaven. He is the father of the rain. He clothes the 
grass. He gives snow like wool. He scatters the 
hoarfrost like ashes. Who can stand before his cold? 



28 JEH0VAH-JIREII. 

He hunts the prey for the lion. He sends out the 
wild ass free. He gives the goodly feathers to the 
peacock and plumes every fowl of heaven. He gives 
the horse his strength, and clothes his neck with 
thunder. He shuts up the sea with doors that it 
breaks not forth. He enters into the springs of the 
sea. He knows the place and the bounds of light and 
of darkness. Angels, men, sun, moon, stars, fiery 
meteors, the heavens, the waters beneath us, dragons, 
fire, hail, snow, vapor, stormy winds, mountains, hills, 
trees, beasts, cattle, creeping things, flying fowl, kings, 
counsellors, senators, all people, young men and 
maidens, old men and children, lightning and earth- 
quakes, all, all obey his voice and do his will. 
Nothing ever goes beyond his grasp. Under his con- 
trol the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the 
strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the prudent, 
nor favor to men of skill. Promotion comes neither 
from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south, 
but God is judge of all. Whom he will, he exalts; 
whom he will, he abases; whom he will, he kills; 
whom he will, he makes alive. As a partridge sitteth 
upon eggs and hatcheth them not, so is man in all his 
cares and toils without God's blessing. Under his 
government a horse is a vain thing for safety, nor shall 
he deliver any by his great strength. He delighteth 
not in the legs of a man. Without him nothing is 



PROVIDENCE VAST. 29 

holy, without him nothing is wise, without him 
nothing is strong. He is a rock. 

To us many things happen by chance. We neither 
foresee nor design them. We neither expect nor desire 
them. To us much is accident. The Scriptures so 
admit. Deut. xxii. 6 ; 1 Sam. vi. 9 ; 2 Sam. i. 6 ; Luke x. 
31. Indeed, the Bible says in so many words that 
time and chance happeneth to all. Eccles. ix. 11, 
But to God, everything is part of a universal plan. 
" The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing 
thereof is of the Lord." Prov. xvi. 33. When the 
cup of Ahab's iniquity was full, and God determined 
to call him to judgment, a man "drew a bow at a 
venture, and smote him between the joints of the har- 
ness;" and he died. God can kill without instru- 
ments, or with instruments which seem to us despi- 
cable. So also he can save by many, by few, or by 
none. Under the shadow of his wings the darkest 
conspiracies can do us no harm. The belief of this 
made David say : " The Lord is the strength of my 
life ; of whom shall I be afraid ? When the wicked, 
even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat 
up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host 
should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear : 
though war should rise up against me, in this will I 
be confident." Ps. xxvii. 1-3. And when he was old 
he said : " Thou hast covered my head in the day of 

3* 



30 JEH0VAH-J1REH. 

battle." "By thee have I run through a troop: by 
my God have I leaped over a wall." 2 Sam. xxii. 30. 
David always ascribed his victory over the bear and 
the lion to the wonderful providence of God ; and well 
he might, for he was but a lad when he slew them. 
Beza somewhere mentions no less than six hundred 
wonderful acts of providence towards himself in the 
troublous times, in which he lived. In that terrible 
battle, when by his folly and obstinacy Braddock was 
both defeated and mortally wounded, a savage de- 
liberately aimed his deadly rifle seventeen times against 
Washington, yet not a ball hit him. Even the Indian 
was struck with amazement and said: "The great 
Spirit will not let that man be hurt." Compare 1 
Chron. xviii. 31, and Pr. xvi. 7. 

Man is immortal till his work is done. 

Cyrus was king of Persia and captor of Babylon. 
He and his countrymen held to two principles having 
the power of two Gods, one the author of good, the 
other of evil. Yet two centuries before his birth God 
thus spoke to him: "I am Jehovah, there is no God 
beside me : I girded thee though thou hast not known 
me. I form the light, and create darkness: I make 
peace, and create evil : I Jehovah, do all these things." 
Isa. xlv. 5-7. Again says God by Amos (iii. 6,) 
"Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not 
done it?" Death is his servant. The pestilence is 



PROVIDENCE VAST. 31 

his rod. The wicked are his sword. Famine is his 
scourge. If the earth becomes iron and the heavens 
brass, and glow like a furnace, it is at the bidding of 
God. If blasting and mildew, the caterpillar and the 
palmer-worm cut off the hope of the husbandman, 
they are the messengers of the Lord of hosts. Death 
and hell have no power but from him. He carries 
the keys of them both. He opens and none can shut. 
He shuts and none can open. His wisdom is unsearch- 
able. There is none like him. His providence is felt 
everywhere. He rules all men good and bad, great 
and small. " The king's heart is in the hand of the 
Lord, as the rivers of water : he turneth it whitherso- 
ever he will." Pr. xxi. 1. The reference in this text 
is to the custom of irrigating gardens by conducting 
the water in little canals, which can easily be closed, 
so that the gardener makes the water run in any direc- 
tion he pleases. In like manner God controls the heart 
of the king and of every man, as the gardener checks 
and controls these little rivers of water. Phil. ii. 13. 

God could not surely defend and protect his peo- 
ple, if their enemies were not within his grasp. It 
does not impair free agency for God to present an irre- 
sistible motive either to a good man or to a bad man. 
With the former the fear of God has power sufficient 
to restrain him from sin. With the wicked regard to 
health, honor, or wealth, have restraining power. In 



32 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

neither case is there a suspension of free agency. 
If God does not sway the hearts of the wicked so as to 
secure their doing that which on the whole view of 
the case he has determined to effect or permit, are they 
not independent beings? But the Scripture leaves no 
room for doubt on this point. Acts ii. 23; iv. 28; 
2 Sam. xvii. 14. If any man were independent of 
God, then the promise of Satan to our first parents 
would be fulfilled, and men would become as gods. 
But the Scriptures are explicit: "The king's heart is in 
the hand of the Lord;" "A man's heart deviseth his 
way: but the Lord directeth his steps;" "Man's goings 
are of the Lord, how then can a man understand his 
way?" Pr. xxi. 1; xvi. 9; xx. 24. It was the Lord 
that "turned the heart of the Egyptians to deal sub- 
tilly with his servants." Ps. cv. 25. It is also said of 
the Jews that the Lord " made them to be pitied of all 
those, that carried them captives." Ps. cvi. 46. Be- 
cause God controls the free acts of wicked men, it 
came to pass that the vacillating Pilate, who pro- 
nounced Jesus Christ innocent, was yet prevailed on 
to deliver him to death, but was as firm as a rock in 
refusing to alter the inscription on his cross, saying, 
"What I have written, I have written." When 
Shimei cursed David, that holy man said, "Let him 
alone, and let him curse; for the Loud hath bidden 
him." 2 Sam. xvi. 11. God took away restraint from 



PROVIDENCE VAST. 33 

the evil heart of that vile dog, and let him loose to 
bark at the royal fugitive. So the pious Jeremiah de- 
voutly said : " O Lord, I know that the way of man is 
not in himself; it is not in man, that walketh, to di- 
rect his steps." Therefore, if men hate and vex us, 
it is because the Lord removes restraints and lets them 
loose upon us. 

When God planted the Jews in Canaan, he told 
them that all, who were able, must go up to the holy 
city three times every year to worship him. They 
had wicked enemies all around them, who cordially 
hated them, and desired their extermination. But 
God said: "Neither shall any man desire thy land, 
when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy 
God thrice in the year." Ex. xxxiv. 24. This pro- 
mise was well kept in all their generations. But 
this could only be by Jehovah putting his almighty 
hand on the hearts of the nations, and softening for 
the time their animosities against his people. God 
can make even the worst of men not to wish us any 
harm, and yet they may all the time be perfectly con- 
scious of free agency. God led Absalom and his co- 
conspirators to choose foolish rather than wise counsel, 
whereby their wicked plot was utterly defeated. 2 Sam. 
xvii. 14. Whenever the Lord will, "he turneth 
wise men backward." Isa. xliv. 25. He causes bad 
men to punish themselves. Thus sang David: "The 



34 JEHOVAII-JIREII. 

heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in 
the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The 
Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth : 
the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands." 
Ps. ix. 15, 16. 

The punishment of the wicked is thus terribly por- 
trayed: "His own iniquities shall take the wicked him- 
self, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He 
shall die without instruction ; and in the greatness of his 
folly he shall go astray." Pr. v. 22, 23. "They that 
sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." 
Gal. vi. 8. 

So also God uses the wicked to punish each other, 
and then for their own wickedness he punishes them. 
Thus when the Jews apostatized and became sadly de- 
generate, decreeing unrighteousness and writing 
grievousness, to turn aside the needy from judgment, 
and to take away the right from the poor, that widows 
might be their prey, and that they might rob the 
fatherless, God sent a mighty heathen prince to pun- 
ish them. This is his prophetic address to that 
haughty and terrible monarch: "O Assyrian, the rod 
of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indig- 
nation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, 
and against the people of my wrath [who have in- 
curred my wrath] will I give him a charge, [or com- 
mission] to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to 



PROVIDENCE VAST. 35 

tread them down like the mire of the streets. How- 
beit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; 
but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not 
a few. . . . Wherefore it shall come to pass, that 
when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon 
mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit 
of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory 
of his high looks. . . . Shall the axe boast itself 
against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw 
magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the 
rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or 
as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no 
wood." Isa. x. 5, 6, 7, 12, 15. Thus God "makes 
the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of 
wrath he will restrain." He permitted men and 
devils to combine for the death of Jesus Christ, yet 
out of that event he has brought eternal redemption to 
countless millions, and eternal glory to the Godhead. 
But when they combined to keep him in the tomb, it 
was not possible that he should be holden of death. 
Their malice and machinations were impotent. He 
burst the bars of the grave, arose by his own power 
and ascended up on high, leading captivity captive. 

Nor should this doctrine offend any one. When 
Pilate said to Jesus, "Knowest thou not that I have 
power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?" 
Jesus answered, "Thou couldest have no power at all 



36 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

against me, except it were given thee from above." 
John xix. 10, 11. Nor does this doctrine destroy a 
just accountability, but rather establishes it. The 
very next words of Jesus are: "Therefore he that de- 
livered me unto thee hath the greater sin;" thus 
clearly declaring that though the sin might seem to 
him small, yet it was sin. 

Indeed if God does not hold the hearts of the 
wicked in his hands, and entirely control them, how 
can the pious pray for deliverance from wicked men 
with any hope that they will be heard and answered? 
But believing this doctrine, they may well ask God to 
save them, knowing that if he choose, he can make 
their enemies to be their friends, and their persecutors 
to be their deliverers. This he has often done. This 
he still does, sending his people's foes bowing unto 
them. He, who made the raven feed Elijah, can 
never be at a loss for instruments of good to his 
chosen, or of wrath to his enemies. If it was not be- 
neath him to make an insect or a world, it is not be- 
neath him to govern them to wise and holy ends. 

If he should resign his control over anything even 
for an hour, no mortal can trace the consequences. 
And if he were utterly to forsake any work of his 
hands, no creature can calculate the mischief that would 
ensue; for in him we live and move and have our be- 
ing. So that he alone is " Lord of all." Devils, as 



PROVIDENCE VAST. '67 

tempters, have mighty influence; but the feeblest child 
of God, clad in innocence, upheld by grace, and guided 
by Providence, need not fear a million of devils. 
Satan is bound with a chain. He is the proprietor of 
nothing. Though he is called the god of this world 
and the spirit that works in the children of disobe- 
dience; yet the meaning of such language is that the 
desires and motives and aims and hearts of the men 
of this world are pleasing to Satan, who is at the head 
of the kingdom of darkness, and who sways a sceptre 
of malignant power over the ungodly. Blessed be 
God, he has not abandoned the world, bad as it is, to 
the reign of devils. 

Nor has God resigned any part of his government 
to fate or chance, both of which are blind, and have 
no intelligence, and of course no wisdom. He governs 
by a plan, which is never altered simply because it is 
his plan, and therefore can never be improved. Both 
fate and chance as agents are nothing, and know 
nothing, and can do nothing. Over all the earth pre- 
sides one who has all and infinite perfections. Just 
such a supreme ruler as the pious mind would desire 
for all the world, just such a ruler it now has and ever 
shall have. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the holy ghost, as it was in the begin- 
ning, is now, and shall be evermore. amen. 

4 



38 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 



CHAPTER V. 

PRACTICAL REMARKS ON CHAPTERS HI. AND IV. 

TRUTH is in order to godliness. The truth 
respecting providence is of great practical utility 
and calls for devout and reverent use and considera- 
tion. Sound doctrine on this subject may be as 
wickedly perverted as on any other matter of revela- 
tion. Let all men beware how they hold the truth in 
unrighteousness. Some of the practical considerations 
arising from the whole subject will be more appro- 
priately presented hereafter. A few points urge them- 
selves upon our attention at this time. 

I. Let us firmly believe that God reigns. He is 
the Judge of all the earth. This is a great truth. It 
cannot be too boldly asserted, or too firmly believed. 
It is at the foundation of all true religion, of all solid 
peace/ and of all holy living. We may not deny it. 
We may not even doubt it. Hos. xiv. 9. There is 
an absolute necessity for God's government over the 
world, and for our believing that he does control it. 
We begin life without wisdom, or experience. We 



PRACTICAL REMARKS. 39 

take many of the most important steps in life when 
age has not chastened our minds into sobriety. False 
notions of things, and strong passions, and subtle ene- 
mies beset us on every side, especially till after the 
period, when the elements of character have been pretty 
firmly united. If God preserve us not at such times, 
it is clear we must fall. And what a comfort it is to 
believe this doctrine. If we are poor, or sick, or be- 
reaved, or defamed, how delightful it is to know that 
it is the Lord, and not man, the Lord and not Satan, 
a friend and not an enemy, a most tender father and 
not a capricious master, who thus ordains. David was 
wise when he said, "Let me fall into the hand of the 
Lord, and not into the hand of man." Luther said : 
" Smite, Lord, for thou lovest me." Every child of 
God may say as much. God himself says, "As many 
as I love I rebuke and chasten." This doctrine of 
providence is a great pillar of hope to all good men. 
The three young Hebrews believed it when they said : 
" We are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 
If it be so, God whom we serve, is able to deliver us 
from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us 
out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known 
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods." 
Dan. iii. 16-18. This is the proper fruit of this doc- 
trine. It emboldens the timid. It confirms the waver- 
ing. It converts cowards into heroes. It makes the 



40 JEH0VAH-JIREH. 

simple wise. It represses rashness. It keeps alive a 
solemn sense of responsibility. It is a rock of strength. 
But it must be steadfastly believed. 

Dr. Dick : " As the doctrine of a particular provi- 
dence is agreeable both to Scripture and to reason, so 
it is recommended by its obvious tendency to promote 
the piety and the consolation of mankind . . . 
The thought, that he ' compasses our paths, and is 
acquainted with all our ways f that he watches our 
steps, orders all the events in our lot, guides and pro- 
tects us, and supplies our wants, as it were with his 
own hand ; this thought awakens a train of sentiments 
and feelings, highly favorable to devotion, and sheds a 
cheering light upon the path of life. We consider him 
as our guardian and our Father ; and reposing upon 
his care, we are assured that, if we trust in him, no 
evil shall befal us, and no real blessing shall be with- 
held." 

Price : " Where can be the difficulty of believing an 
invisible hand, an universal and ever attentive Provi- 
dence, which guides all things agreeably to perfect 
rectitude and wisdom, at the same time that the 
general laws of the world are left unviolated, and the 
liberty of moral agents is preserved ?" 

" The Lord shall reign forever, even thy God, O 
Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord." Ps. 
cxlvi. 10. 



PRACTICAL REMARKS. 41 

II. Let us not be curious in prying into inscrutable 
secrets connected with providence. We know but 
little of the little which may be known. Humbly to 
study providence is a duty. Boldly to pry into it is a 
sin. He, who cannot swim, ought not to venture into 
deep waters. God's ruling the world is a deep matter. 
Many both prejudge and misjudge all that he does. 
Judge nothing before the time. Remember "it is the 
glory of God to conceal a thing." Prov. xxv. 2. But 
"vain man would be wise, though he be born like a 
wild ass' colt." Job xi. 12. The thirty-eighth, thirty- 
ninth, fortieth, and forty-first chapters of Job contain 
terrible reproofs even to good men, who had indulged 
in daring speculations on divine providence. Oh, for 
the sublime wisdom of Paul, who stood and adoringly 
said: "O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom 
and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his 
judgments, and his ways past finding out." Why 
will men become cavillers and subject themselves to 
the alarming reproof: "Nay, but, O man, who art 
thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing 
formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou 
made me thus?" The ignorance of a wise man is 
better than the knowledge of a fool. 

III. Consider how great is the danger of resisting 
providence. Whenever God's will is known, submit 
to it, not grudgingly, but of a cheerful mind. For 

4 * 



42 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

their sins the Jews had a hard bondage in Babylon. 
What made their case worse was that among them 
were prophets and diviners, who fomented rebellion 
against their masters. They were quite opposed to the 
reigning powers, and, in fact, were in favor of sullen 
rebellion against God and man. These false teachers 
vexed the people and kept their tempers chafed. But 
by God's direction, good Jeremiah wrote them a letter, 
saying : " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of 
Israel, unto all that are carried away captives from 
Jerusalem unto Babylon : Build ye houses, and dwell 
in them ; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them ; 
take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and 
take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to 
husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; 
that ye may be increased there and not diminished. 
And seek the peace of the city, whither I have caused 
you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the 
Lord for it, for in the peace thereof ye shall have 
peace. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God 
of Israel ; Let not your prophets and your diviners, 
that be in the midst of you deceive you, neither 
hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be 
dreamed." Jer. xxix. 4-8. How much better it is 
thus cheerfully to submit to Providence than to quarrel 
with it, and fret, and lose our good tempers, and, with 
our tempers, our good consciences ! For " who hath 



PRACTICAL REMARKS. 43 

hardened himself against God and prospered?" Job 
ix. 4. Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of 
the earth, but woe to him that striveth with his Maker. 
Isa. xlv. 9. We are not fit to choose for ourselves. 
We are blind and cannot see afar off. But God sees 
and declares the end from the beginning. He is all- 
wise. He knows all the possible relations of things. 
"The meek will he guide in judgment." "Be not as 
the horse and the mule, which have no understanding, 
whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle." 
Do not barely submit, but heartily acquiesce. If it 
seems hard to say, Not my will, but thine be done, O 
God, still say it and hold your conscience firmly bound 
to approve it. " Commit thy works unto the Lord, and 
thy thoughts shall be established." Prov. xvi. 3. 

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, 

But trust Him for his grace; 
Behind a frowing providence, 

He hides a smiling face. 

His purposes will ripen fast, 

Unfolding every hour; 
The bud may have a bitter taste, 

But sweet will be the flower. 

Blind unbelief is sure to err, 

And scan his work in vain; 
God is his own interpreter. 

And Ho will make it plain. 



44 JEHOVAH-JLREH. 

"If I can have my God to go before me in 
the pillar and the cloud," said Simeon to J. A. 
Haldane, "I long exceedingly to visit you once 
more ; but if I cannot see my way clear, I am better 
where I am." 



PROVIDENCE RETRIBUTIVE. 45 



CHAPTER VI. 

god's providence is retributive. 

rOHNSON defines retribution to be a return ac- 
" commodated to the action. Its general import is 
requital or recompence. Foster says: "Retribution is 
one of the grand principles in the divine administra- 
tion of human affairs; a requital is imperceptible only 
to the wilfully unobservant. There is everywhere the 
working of the everlasting law of requital: man always 
gets as he gives." Although God's government is 
perfect in principle and in conduct, yet the work of 
requital, because unfinished, is not perfect in time. 
Augustine: "If no sin were punished here, no provi- 
dence would be believed; if every sin were punished 
here, no judgment would be expected." 

Retribution results from all the principles of the 
divine government already considered. There is no 
flaw in it. There is no injustice in it. God will not 
clear the guilty. He will not condemn the innocent. 
He will not slay the righteous with the wicked. He 
never confounds things that are different. He will 
not permit the righteous to be as the wicked. For a 



46 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

season his procedure may be inexplicable, but in the 
end God will abase the proud and exalt the humble, 
rebuke the sinner and encourage the saint. 

To a remarkable degree men are made to reap what 
they have sowed, to gather what they have strewed, 
and to eat the fruit of their own doings. Like for like 
is an all-pervading principle of God's government. 
Retribution in kind is seen in all his finished dispen- 
sations. 

In its operation this principle extends to both good 
and bad acts. They that sow to the Spirit, shall of 
the Spirit reap life everlasting. They that sow to the 
flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. Covetousness 
heaps treasure together as fire and fuel against the last 
day. Christian charity transports it to Paradise to be 
enjoyed after death. 

Requital extends to the actions of both saints and 
sinners. God does not overlook wrong in any of his 
children. In their case wastefulness brings want, 
even as with the wicked. On the other hand, industry 
and frugality in worldly men are commonly followed 
by thrift and plenty, even as with the righteous. The 
doctrine of retribution is essentially connected with 
that of accountability. It is often stated in the word 
of God. In the law of Moses it is laid down as the rule 
by which magistrates shall award punishments to 
wrong-doers in Israel. This proves that the thing is 



PROVIDENCE RETRIBUTIVE. 47 

in itself right. "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand 
for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound 
for wound, stripe for stripe," . , . "Breach for 
breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth : as he hath caused 
a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again." 
"Life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 
hand for hand, foot for foot." Ex. xxi. 24, 25 ; Levit. 
xxiv. 20; Deut. xix. 21. Our Lord warned men not 
against this principle, but against two abuses of it. 
The first was that men applied it to matters of private 
revenge. The other was that some cruelly insisted 
upon the literal application of the principle in judica- 
ture when it would have been more benevolent to 
waive the right to demand a punishment, which, if 
insisted on, the magistrate was bound to inflict. The 
same law of Moses ordained that a false witness should 
be punished by being made to suffer the ill which he 
sought to bring on his brother. Deut. xix. 19. The 
same law says that God " repay eth them that hate him 
to their face." Deut. vii. 10. This very phrase pro- 
bably implies the great principle here contended for. 
It is repeated : " The Lord will not be slack to him 
that hateth him, he will repay him to his face." Deut. 
vii. 10. 

Retribution in kind is often categorically taught in 
Scripture. "With the merciful thou wilt show thy- 
self merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt 



48 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

snow thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt show 
thyself pure; and with the fro ward thou wilt show thy- 
self unsavory." 2 Sam. xxii. 26, 27. In Ps. xviii. 25, 26, 
we have almost the same words repeated. In both 
cases God teaches, says Clarke, that: "he will deal 
with men as they deal with each other. . . . The 
merciful, the upright, the pure will ever have the God 
of mercy, uprightness and purity to defend them. 
And he will follow the wicked through all his wind- 
ings, trace him through all his crooked ways, untwist 
him in all his cunning wiles, and defeat all his 
schemes of stubbornness, fraud, overreaching and de- 
ceit. ... If thou perversely oppose thy Maker, 
he will oppose thee. No work or project shall pros- 
per that is not begun in his name and conducted in his 
fear." The word rendered froward is often rendered 
perverse. Pool: "Man's perverseness is moral and 
sinful, but God's perverseness is judicial and penal." 

At the dedication of the temple Solomon prayed 
that in coming generations the Lord would "con- 
demn the wicked to bring his way upon his head, and 
justify the righteous to give him according to his right- 
eousness." 1 Kings viii. 22. So that this very princi- 
ple is inwoven with the devotions of the true Israel. 

In the sermon on the mount, our Lord twice asserts 
the same doctrine :" Blessed are the merciful: for they 
shall obtain mercy;" and "With what judgment ye 



PROVIDENCE RETRIBUTIVE. 49 

judge, ye shall be judged: with what measure ye mete, 
it shall be measured to you again." Matt. v. 7; vii. 2. 
So in Psalm vii. 15, 16, of the wicked it is said: 'He 
made a pit, and digged it, and has fallen into the 
ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon 
his own head, and his violent dealing shall come 
down upon his own pate." Compare Psalm cix. 17. No 
less clearly does Solomon assert the same thing: 
" Surely the Lord scorneth the scorners," Prov. iii. 34; 
and one of the Apostles says: "He shall have judg- 
ment without mercy that hath showed no mercy." 
James ii. 13. 

The same law of requital prevails respecting the 
good deeds of men. "Blessed is he that considereth 
the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. 
The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and 
he shall be blessed in the earth : and thou wilt not de- 
liver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord 
will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou 
wilt make all his bed in his sickness." Ps. xli. 1-3. 

Thus frequently does the Scripture assert this prin- 
ciple in express Therms. It also gives us many exam- 
ples. Jehovah has often "written the cause of the 
judgment in the forehead of the judgment itself.''' The 
builders of Babel form a league, binding themselves 
together for ever. The Lord dissolves the league by 
confounding their language, and making them a tor- 



50 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

ment to each other. The Egyptians destroy the in- 
fants of the Israelites by drowning them in the Nile. 
In God's anger the waters of their great river are 
turned into blood, and finally their king and his hosts 
are drowned in the Red Sea. They delighted in 
drowning, so God let them have their fill of it. They 
delighted in overtasking the Hebrews, and exposing 
them to the intense heat of the brickyards. So the 
dust from the furnaces, where the bricks had been 
burned, being scattered in the air, the Egyptians were 
covered with boils and with blisters. Thus they were 
made to smart as they had made others to smart. 

By fraud and deception Jacob supplants his brother. 
Time rolls on. Jacob leaves his native land. Far 
from home he often finds his wages changed. Worse 
than all in the matter of marriage he is miserably de- 
ceived. He loves Rachel and cheerfully serves seven 
years for her; and in the hour of his rejoicing finds 
that Leah has been palmed upon him. Thus he is 
made to feel in the tenderest possible manner the na- 
ture of his own wickedness to his brother. "If men 
deal treacherously with others, by and by others will 
deal treacherously with them." 

When the Israelites took Bezek, its cruel prince, 
"Adonibezek, fled; and they pursued after him, and 
caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great 
toes." Then this guilty man began to reason on the 



PROVIDENCE RETRIBUTIVE. 51 

moral .government that is executed in this world: 
"Three-score and ten kings, having their thumbs and 
great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table; 
as I have done, so hath God requited me." Judges i. 
5, 6. 

The ninth chapter of Judges contains fifty-seven 
verses, and gives the history of the crimes and end of 
Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, who conspired with the 
men of Shechem for the destruction of all the children 
of his father, being three-score and ten persons, one 
only, Jotham, escaping. The awful deed was done. 
The rivals for power were put out of the way. For a 
season things seemed to prosper. Still there were dif- 
ficulties. By the Spirit of God Jotham had uttered a 
fearful prediction respecting his bloody brother and 
his accomplices. Ere long Abimelech himself in a 
cruel manner destroyed the men of Shechem. Not 
long after "a certain woman cast a piece of millstone 
upon Abimelech's head and all to [entirely] brake his 
skull." The conclusion of the inspired record is 
solemn: "Thus God rendered [or requited] the wick- 
edness of Abimelech, which he did unto his father, in 
slaying his seventy brethren : and all the evil of the 
men of Shechem did God render upon their heads : 
and upon them came the curse of Jotham, the son of 
Jerubbaal." Fuller: "If our backslidings have con- 
sisted in unfaithfulness towards one another, God will 



52 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

oftentimes punish this sin by so ordering it that others 
shall be unfaithful to us in return." 

Dreadful was the course of divine judgment towards 
Agag, the king of the Amalekites. By God's direc- 
tion Samuel said to him: "As. thy sword hath made 
women childless, so shall thy mother be made child- 
less among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in 
pieces before the Lord in Gilgal." 1 Sam. xv. 33. 

In like manner for lying to Naaman the leper of 
Assyria, and for lying to his master, the leprosy of 
Naaman cleaved unto Gehazi and unto his seed for- 
ever, and forthwith he went out from the presence of 
Elisha a leper as white as snow. 2 Kings v. 20-27. 
Dreadful was the sin, and dreadful the punishment. 
Shame and misery follow a man and all his posterity 
through all their generations for this wilful, deliberate 
falsehood. 

History tells of horrible sufferings coming on those 
who delighted in inflicting horrible sufferings on 
others. Nero, who loved to shed blood, the blood of 
his best subjects, and especially of Christians, was con- 
demned to be punished according to the custom of 
the ancient Romans. He turned executioner of their 
sentence, slew himself, and left the world exclaiming: 
"I have lived shamefully, I die more shamefully." 
Domitian first trained himself and then his minions to 
acts of tormenting cruelty. He was in the end rnur- 



PROVIDENCE RETRIBUTIVE. 53 

dered by his own servants. Dogs licked up the blood 
of Ahab, where he had caused them to lick up the 
blood of the conscientious Naboth. The same cruel 
prince had trained a set of men addicted to bloody 
deeds. So soon as he was gone, these very men rid 
the land of his posterity. In Cilicia A. D. 117 died 
Trajan, the persecutor. His joints were loosed. His 
life was drowned out by the waters of dropsy, while 
thirst was burning him up. His successor, Adrian, 
departed this life A. D. 139 by a disease, which took 
most of the blood from his body. He, who had shed 
innocent blood, now reluctantly and in agony shed his 
own blood. Maximin and his little son were both 
put to death by the servants and soldiers, whom he 
had educated to deeds of carnage. As they slew his 
child, they said, "Not a whelp of so cursed a stock 
shall be left." Diocletian became a madman. His 
palace was consumed by fire from heaven. His end 
was fearful. 

Lucian derided the Christians by barking at them 
like a dog. His death was on this wise. He was 
torn to pieces by the dogs. A modern tyrant and 
murderer prepared two cups of wine, one for himself 
and one for his guest. He gave special direc- 
tion to his servant as to the disposition of the cups. 
Yet in carelessness his servant gave him the cup of 
poison. He drank it all, and expired in convulsions. 

5* 



54 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

Henry II., of France was a great persecutor. He 
formed the design of destroying the whole city of 
Geneva. Everything seemed to promise well for his 
malicious purpose. But when his daughter was mar- 
ried, he "received a mortal wound in a tournament 
from the splinter of a lance which pierced one of his 
eyes. This wound was given by the hand of the Pre- 
fect of the royal guards, who had by the king's order 
seized and imprisoned those senators who pleaded for 
moderation in religious matters." The king had de- 
clared concerning Amies du Bourge a worthy example 
of justice and moderation who was executed in a cruel 
manner that both his eyes should see that man burn! 
at the stake. Behold by his own tool, he is not only de- 
prived of one eye, but through the loss of that, he is 
deprived of life itself. Charles IX. of France caused 
Ihe shedding of the blood of the Huguenots on St. 
Bartholomew's day. Voltaire tells us that the blood 
of that cruel prince burst through the pores of his 
skin. His nature was at war with itself. Several 
writers tell us of the old man, whose son dragged him 
by his gray locks to the threshhold of his door, when 
looking up he said, " Stop, my son ; this is as far as I 
dragged my father by his hair." For a while cruel 
and bloody men may seem to have it all their own 
way; but ere long God's hand will lay hold on ven- 
geance. They may mock and afflict the innocent. 



PROVIDENCE RETRIBUTIVE. 55 

But among such, who ever lived and died happily? 
Sooner or later a pitiless storm beats them down. 

This arrangement of Providence enables us to see 
and feel the justice of many things in the orderings of 
the Lord. Were our sufferings something foreign 
from our own conduct, we might often be perplexed 
with occurrences that happen to us. But when sor- 
row comes to us in the ghost of the wrong we have 
committed, we say, Righteous art thou, Lord God Al- 
mighty. 

In the same v*ay we learn to study the book of 
Providence. Its lessons are made easy and forcible. 

Thus also we see how just is God in his dealings. 
He who gets what he gives cannot complain of wrong. 
It is right the murderer should feel in his own person 
the pangs of the death he has inflicted on another. 

In like manner God teaches us that it is an evil and 
a bitter thing to sin against the Lord. There is no 
evil so great as sin. By this arrangement of his pro- 
vidence, he makes us feel that sin is horrible. 

So also we learn the folly of sin. O what shame 
and confusion, running perhaps through life, come on 
us for one wicked deed. Ere long no doubt every sin 
will appear as foolish as the most silly conduct is 
sometimes made now to appear. 

Let every man honestly and earnestly inquire in the 
day of adversity, Wherefore, O Lord, contendest thou 



o6 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

with me? It is a rational and proper inquiry. He, 
who will not make it, must expect to be hardened 
under judgments. 

In applying this principle of God's government to 
ourselves, we may be strict and even severe. Our 
self-love will hold us back from excess. If we are in- 
nocent, conscience will shield us. Few men are harsh 
in their judgments of themselves. It is far otherwise 
in judging of our fellow-men. We must give them 
the benefit of any doubt in their case. In passing the 
conduct of others under review we must be lenient. A 
charitable judgment of good men is more apt to be 
true than one that is harsh. 

Whenever our sin is brought to view, let us repent 
of it, abhor it, ask forgiveness for it and forsake it. 
Newton says, "If a man will make his nest below, 
God will put a thorn in it ; and if that will not do, he 
will set it on fire." Beware, O man, how thou be- 
havest towards God in the day of chastisement for thy 
sins. 

Let every man be warned and deterred from courses 
of conduct, which by this great law of requital must 
yet involve him in trouble, perhaps even down to old 
age. Some sixty years ago there lived on the borders 
of civilization a man who had an aged, infirm, and 
blind father. The old man frequently broke the 
crockery on which his food was served. His son's 



PROVIDENCE RETRIBUTIVE. 57 

wife complained of it, and the son at last determined 
to take a block of wood and hew out a tray or trough, 
on which to feed his father. Accordingly he took his 
axe and went to the forest, followed by his little son. 
He found a poplar, that looked as if it would suit his 
purpose, and began to cut out a block of the desired 
size. Having swung his axe a few moments, he be- 
came weary, and his son said, "Father, what are you 
going to make?" The father replied, "I am going to 
make a trough, for your grandfather, to eat out of." 
The little boy loved his grandfather very much, and 
supposed it all very kind, and said, "I am so glad; 
won't it be nice? Father, when you get to be old and 
blind, I will make a trough for you." The father, 
conscience-stricken, and fearing sorrow for himself, 
took up his axe, returned home, and ever after seemed 
to treat his aged parent kindly. 

God's people are safe though his enemies are not. 
u For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and 
the worm shall eat them like wool : but my righteous- 
ness," saith God, "shall be for ever, and my salvation 
from generation to generation." Isa. li. 8. Tempta- 
tations may assail them; enemies may revile them, and 
persecute them. But God says, "Hearken unto me, 
ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart 
is my law, fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be 

ye afraid of their revilings." Isa. li. 7. 

c* 



58 JEHOVAH-JIREH 

Let us, however, beware of the error into which' 
Job's friends fell. "They maintained that God go- 
verned the world upon the principle of minute retribu- 
tion, rendering to ever}*- man in the present life accord- 
ing to his works;" and that this requital was perfect 
in this world. Against this theory Job argued irre- 
fragably, and God himself condemned them and ap- 
proved Job, saying unto Eliphaz, "My wrath is 
kindled against thee, and against thy two friends : for 
ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as 
my servant Job hath." Job xlii. 7. 



FORBEARANCE OF PROVIDENCE. 59 



CHAPTER VII. 

Some explanation of the delays of Providence 
in punishing the wicked. how divine for- 
bearance should be regarded; and how it 
may be abused. 

rilHE Almighty does not settle his accounts with 
-*- his creatures every thirty days. He is long-suf- 
fering. He is patient under affronts. He forbears to 
execute deserved wrath upon offenders. This is one 
of the striking displays of the goodness of God designed 
to lead us to repentance. He bears long with us. He 
is slow to anger. He is the God of patience. Long- 
suffering is of his very essence. Man may exist with- 
out being kind, and gentle, and forbearing. God can- 
not. He can no more cease to be pitiful than he can 
cease to be. He warns ; he entreats ; he follows with 
mercy the very men, who flee from his gracious pre- 
sence and kind offers. Often for a long time he delays 
his judgments. 

It is very important that we should not misunder- 
stand God's dealings in this matter. Let us not mis 



60 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

interpret providence, nor fall into the errors of the 
wicked. A few remarks made in order may help to 
set the matter in a clear light. 

I. LET US NOTICE SOME THINGS, WHICH DO NOT CAUSE 
GOD TO DELAY DESERVED PUNISHMENT. 

1. God does not defer the punishment of any sinner, 
because it would be unrighteous instantly to cut him 
down, and bring him to judgment. The sentence — 
" The soul that sinneth, it shall die" — is as just as it 
is alarming. Every sin deserves God's wrath and 
curse now and hereafter. It deserves punishment the 
moment it is committed. What evil there is in in- 
iquity is in it at the instant of perpetration. A 
murder does not become less or more a murder by the 
lapse of time. Whatever guilt there is in any sin is 
in it from the first. A repetition of an offence is an 
additional sin. But it would be just and right in God 
to punish condignly and terribly as soon as he is 
insulted and offended. He did so in the case of the 
rebel angels. 

2. Nor does God withhold his wrath, because we 
have not often offended him. Of each of us it is true 
that our sins are more than the hairs of our heads. 
They are innumerable. We cannot answer for one of 
a thousand of them. And each one of them calls for 
vengeance. 



FORBEARANCE OF PROVIDENCE. 61 

3. Nor does God exercise forbearance, because he 
has not at all times a distinct view of the number and 
aggravation of our offences. In no sense does God 
ever forget an unpardoned sin. He always sees it, 
knows it, hates it. His soul abhors it. He is angry 
with the wicked every day. No being is so far re- 
moved from everything like insensibility to sin as 
God is. 

4. Nor does God delay the punishment of the wicked 
because they escape his notice, or elude his search ; 
nor because he cannot prove them guilty, nor because 
he is not as competent to decide upon their case as he 
ever will be. Human governments sometimes cannot 
detect, arrest, or convict. Evidence may be wanting. 
Witnesses may be absent. The law in the case may 
be doubtful. But these things never cause a moment's 
delay in the divine government. 

5. Nor are sinners allowed to go unpunished for a 
season, because God regards with indifference the false 
impressions, which some receive from his long-suffer- 
ing. On the contrary, he " is a jealous God." He is 
most tender of his honor, and carefully guards the 
glory of his government. He would forever part with 
all the creatures he has made rather than allow one 
truthful charge to be brought against his justice. 
When the rebellion broke out in heaven, as in a 
moment he emptied the shining seats above, rather 



62 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

than let one sinning angel remain in his estate, a 
standing reproach to God, a monument of God's tole- 
rance of sin. 

6. Nor does God forbear to punish the wicked for a 
time because he has not full power to execute any sen- 
tence, which his justice might decree. Omnipotence 
can do anything at any time. Human governments 
are sometimes afraid to punish, lest they should arouse 
popular indignation, or dangerous commotions. But 
God is not for one moment restrained from executing 
the fierceness of his anger by any such fear. Were 
the world in arms against him, He that sitteth in the 
heavens would laugh at their impotent rage. One 
breath, one word from Jehovah would sweep them 
down to hell in a moment. 

7. Nor is there in the divine mind any weakness, 
any irresolution, any want of determination to award 
to every man according as his case shall demand. 
Many offences among men go entirely unpunished 
because of the vacillation of mind or feebleness of 
spirit in parents, masters or rulers. But it is far 
otherwise with God. He proceeds to the work of 
judgment and of punishment with an inflexible pur- 
pose, whenever his holiness and wisdom determine 
that the right time has come. 

Let us then 



FORBEARANCE OF PROVIDENCE. 63 

II. Consider positively why God beaks long 
with men. — Perhaps the discussion of this point is no 
more important than that of the preceding. But 
surely there are some things involved in it, which 
ought to make it to us lost sinners a welcome and a 
delightful theme. 

1. God delays to punish sinners, because in his 
nature are found infinite love and mercy. This 
thought is full of weight and of interest. Let us 
dwell upon it. God is "long-suffering to usward," 
because he has a loving, pitiful, compassionate nature. 
A modern writer* has collected and compared many 
of the forms of expression used on this subject. He 
says : " There is something very peculiar in the man- 
ner in which this doctrine is taught. Observe, first, 
several words, nearly synonymous, are used to teach us 
the doctrine, such is merciful, gracious, long-suffer mg, 
pitiful, slow to anger, and not satisfied with the posi- 
tive the inspired writers use the superlative : very 
pitiful and very gracious too. Observe, secondly, that 
not content with the singular, mercy, by a felicitous 
fault of style, they adopt and employ the plural form, 
mercies. They speak of the mercies of God ; nor are 
they content with a simple plural ; but they speak of 
these mercies as manifold, yea, they speak of the multi- 
tude of his mercies. This is strange language. It 

* Nevins. 



64 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

expresses a conception not of human origin. And to 
denote that there is nothing uncertain about these 
mercies, they speak of them as sure mercies ; and they 
speak of them not only as many but great ! aye, and 
great above the heavens, they say ; and they speak of 
the greatness of his mercies, in magnitude equal to 
what they are in multitude — many and great and sure 
mercies. Think of that. But they are not mere mer- 
cies, but tender mercies, and these mercies they speak 
of not as derived, but as original with God. Him they 
speak of as the Father of mercies ; and they take care 
to tell us that mercy is not accidental to God, but 
essential ; they speak of it as belonging to him ; and 
Daniel goes further still ; he says : ' To the Lord our 
God belong mercies' and forgiveness? No; but 
' forgivenesses. ' You may say that is not chaste 
composition, but it is glorious doctrine. Thirdly, 
there is another set of phrases they use ; they speak of 
God as rich in mercy, plenteous in mercy, and full of 
compassion ; they speak of his abundant mercy, of the 
earth as full of his mercy, to denote its amplitude ; and 
in respect of its continuance, they say his compassions 
fail not, and there is a Psalm in which twenty-six 
times it is said, His mercy endureth forever. There is 
still another phraseology used by the sacred writers. 
They speak of God's kindness, his great kindness, his 
marvellous kindness, his everlasting kindness ; but they 



FORBEARANCE OF PROVIDENCE. 65 

are not satisfied to speak of it as simple kindness ; they 
call it merciful kindness, and speak of it as great 
towards us. They call it loving-kindness, too, and we 
read of God's marvellous and excellent loving-kindness, 
with which it is said also that he crowneth us ; here, 
too, they use the plural form, loving-kindnesses; and 
they speak of the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. 
What more could they say? Fourthly, we find the 
mercy of God compared to certain human exercises ; 
for example, to a father's pity, which it is said to be 
like, and to a brother's friendship, than which it is 
closer, and to a mother's love, which it is said to ex- 
ceed." Truly, it is wonderful that such sinners as we 
are should be spared ; but surely it is not marvellous 
that if spared at all, it should be under the govern- 
ment of such a God. " The Lord is long-suffering, 
not willing that any should perish." God never 
punishes with delight. He does not will, or plan, or 
seek the ruin of his bitterest and most inveterate ene- 
mies. In the esteem of God the death of a sinner is 
a dreadful thing. " Many a time turns he his anger 
away" (Ps. lxxviii. 38) before he strikes a blow or 
crushes a sinful worm. The reason is, " God is love." 
None else would bear so long, would so long avert 
deserved and terrible punishments from the heads of 
the rebellious. Verily, the prophet told us of the 
glorious nature of God, when he said, " The Lord 

6* 



66 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of 
men." So far as we know, there is but one thing 
upon which the pure and benevolent mind of God 
looks with more aversion than upon the misery of his 
creatures. That one thing is worse than all misery, 
more horrible than the torments of perdition. It is 
sin, the parent of all misery, all disorder, all confusion. 
Every sigh from hell and every groan from earth is 
wrought out by sin, man's most cruel tyrant, God's 
greatest enemy. Benevolent, indeed, must be the 
nature of Jehovah to show pity and long-suffering to 
sinners. 

2. God delays deserved punishment, because if he 
did not, the race of man would soon be extinct, and 
horrible desolation would seize upon all the habitable 
parts of the earth. Then creation on earth would 
have no head. In the days of Noah the long-suffering 
of God, after waiting a hundred and twenty years, was 
exhausted, and but eight souls escaped the dreadful 
overthrow. God has great ends to answer by the 
creation of the world. To sweep away all its inhabit- 
ants would defeat those glorious purposes. 
• 3. One great purpose of God is to continue and en- 
large the church of Christ upon earth. The flock of 
God has ever been composed of those, who, in God's 
esteem and in their own esteem, had once been great 
sinners, and so deserved dreadful judgments. Had 



FORBEARANCE OF PROVIDENCE. 67 

not God patiently borne with their evil manners, 
there is not one member of the visible church, who 
would not long since have perished. So says the con- 
science of every renewed man. And "thus saith the 
Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and 
one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will 
I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy 
them all." Isa. lxv. 8. 

4. This leads to the remark that for the sake of his 
people, and in answer to their prayers, many a wicked 
man is spared for a long time. So Jesus taught : " Ex- 
cept those days be shortened, there should no flesh be 
saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be 
shortened." Ten righteous men would have saved the 
cities of the plain from the vengeance of eternal fire. 
Many a time God permits the w 7 icked to outlive their 
godly parents and friends, that these pious persons 
may escape the anguish of weeping over them, when 
they die in their sins, in their unbelief, and in their 
impenitency. 

5. God long spares sinners, that by his goodness 
they may be led to repentance. He is "not w r illing 
that any should perish, but that all should come to re- 
pentance." In subduing the hearts of sinners, God's 
great argument is his kindness. If God instantly 
punished every man according to his transgressions, 
we could no more be exhorted to "count the long-suf- 



68 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

fering of God salvation." Thus God teaches. So also 
is his practice. A right view of the divine forbearance 
and mercy breaks every heart that ever is broken, 
bows every will that ever submits. "They shall look 
on him, whom they have pierced and mourn." 

6. God long spares sinful men that he may entirely 
cut off all pleas from his incorrigible foes, and make 
his justice glorious, when he shall at last visit them 
for their sins. Every murmur against God, and every 
suspicion of the divine equity must be banished for 
ever, if it shall at last appear that "God endured with 
much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to de- 
struction," and that not until it was evident that longer 
forbearance would give plausibility to the charge of 
weakness or irresolution, did God "show his wrath 
and make his power known." The truth must be 
kept alive that "there is a God that judgeth in the 
earth." But in impressing even this truth on men 
Jehovah adopts a course of great long-suffering. 
Let us 

III. NOTICE THE PROPER USES OF THIS DOCTRINE. 

1. If God is so long-suffering to us, we ought to be 
long-suffering to one another. No man has ever 
treated any of us as badly as each of us has treated 
God. If God spares us, let us spare one another. 
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love 



FORBEARANCE OF PROVIDENCE. 69 

one another;" "forbearing one another, forgiving one 
another, if any have a quarrel against any, even as 
God for Christ's sake forgave you." The true spirit 
of the Gospel never calls down fire from heaven even 
on the bitterest foes. He, to whom ten thousand 
talents have been forgiven, is surely not the man to 
take his brother by the throat, and say, Pay me the 
fifty pence thou owest. 

2. When we see God sparing the lives of our 
wicked friends and neighbors, we ought to labor and 
pray for their salvation. Not only should we desire 
it. We should also expect it. Perhaps the church 
often abandons sinners before God's Spirit forsaken 
them. Pray and toil for their conversion while there 
is breath, for commonly while there is life there is 
hope. Look at the miracles of grace around you, yea, 
look at yourself, and be encouraged to hope and pray 
for others. 

3. Let a due consideration of God's long-suffering 
increase our abhorrence of sin. All sin is an offence 
against the most gentle, loving, patient, forbearing be- 
ing in the universe. To maltreat any man is wrong. But 
to pursue with wanton insult and contumely one that 
shows a loving disposition, even after he has been 
treated amiss, is justly esteemed very base. Such is 
the real character of all the sin we commit against 
God. And sin in the regenerate is against more love, 



70 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

more light and more mercy than are granted to the 
un regenerate. O Christian, hate sin in all, but most 
of all, hate it in yourself. 

4. Let the long-suffering of God lead you carefully 
to study, admire and imitate the character of God. Be 
like him. Think upon his name. Acquaint thyself 
with God and be at peace. His nature is love. Hell 
for depth, heaven for height, the ocean for vastness, 
the sun for brilliancy are all wonderful objects. But 
God's character is a combination of all that is vast, 
sublime, majestic, kind, just, excellent and every way 
glorious. O study the character of God. 

5. Learn to be patient and even thankful amidst 
trials and afflictions. It does not become us to make 
much of a light affliction, when we deserve a heavy 
curse. Think of the kindness still shown you. 
"Were there but a single mercy apportioned to each 
moment of our lives, the sum would rise very high ; 
but how is our arithmetic confounded when every 
minute has more than we can distinctly number." 
"Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of 
our Lord Jesus Christ." Your sorrows may be great, 
but the promises and the grace secured by covenant are 
far greater. Therefore, "strengthen the hands, which 
hang down and the feeble knees." Any sinner, on 
whom the sentence of fiery condemnation has not been 
executed, has great cause of joy and gratitude to God 



FORBEARANCE OF PROVIDENCE. 71 

for sparing mercy. Surely he, whose hope is set in God, 
ought never to be much cast down, but ought to re- 
member that he shall yet sing the song of Moses and 
Miriam, yea of Moses and the Lamb* 

IV. BUT THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS, IN WHICH THE 
LONG-SUFFERING OF GOD IS PERVERTED AND 
ABUSED. 

1. Some, finding the wicked spared so long, infer 
that there is no God at all. They become atheists. 
There have been such monsters on earth. Reasoning 
more false than that, which from God's goodness in- 
fers his non-existence, can hardly be imagined. 

2. A kindred error is that, when from God's pa- 
tience men infer that he is not just, and holy, and so 
determined to deal with the wicked after their sins. 
This is the great pillar, on which rest many false no- 
tions or systems of belief. He, who from God's long- 
suffering argues that he will clear the guilty and 
iustify the wicked, perverts the most precious things. 
To the rebellious God never says, "It shall be well 
with you. But he does say, Will ye steal, and 
murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and 
burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods, 
which ye know not; and come and stand before me in 
this house, which is called by my name, and say, We 
are delivered to do all these abominations?" That is, 



72 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

they inferred that their conduct was not displeasing to 
God, because awful judgments had not swept them 
away. Elsewhere God says, "Because I kept silence," 
i. e. did not instantly and terribly reprove thy wicked- 
ness, "because I kept silence thou though test I was al- 
together such an one as thyself." Thus men deny 
God's attributes. " The wicked live, become old, yea, 
are mighty in power," not because there is not a just 
God, but because that just God is merciful. 

3. Some abuse the long-suffering of God, not only 
to continuing in sin, but to making themselves more 
vile than ever. Often did the Lord lift the curse 
from off the head of Pharaoh, and as often did he sin 
the more. He was very gracious when the pangs 
were upon him, but as soon as the suffering was over, 
his relen tings were over also. "Because sentence 
against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore 
the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do 
evil." What sad perverseness is here ! The sinner 
says, Because God is good I will be bad ; because he 
is slow to anger, I will walk in the light of my eyes, 
and pursue the desires of my heart. These thoughts 
may not be framed into words, but are they not carried 
out in the lives of many? Does not the increasing 
wickedness of men of uncircumcised hearts declare this 
as plainly as God's word itself? To all such, the 
following solemn thoughts are presented. 



FORBEARANCE OF PROVIDENCE. 73 

a. A final perdition wrought out under circum- 
stances of such amazing mercy as surround you, will 
be far more intolerable than if your life had been 
short and your blessings few, 

b. That divine clemency, which you now abuse and 
pervert, may, for aught you know, be nearly exhausted. 
When it shall be all gone, and your lamp put out in 
obscure darkness, how can you bear reflection on the 
course of life you are now pursuing ? 

c. If any shall be so wicked as to persist in sin 
and finally perish, the imputation of folly and madness 
will fall upon their own head. " O Israel, thou hast 
destroyed thyself." " Thou hast procured this unto 
thyself." What dreadful sentences are these ! 

d. The Scripture calls on all the wicked to turn 
and live. Will you repent f Will you now repent ? 
That you will repent is as certain as that there is a holy 
and just God. But whether your repentance shall be 
that sorrow, which works death, or that godly sorrow 
which works repentance not to be repented of, is the 
great question. Shall your repentance be unto life 
and salvation ? or shall it be but the fruitless relenting 
of a soul in an undone eternity? O accept the mercy 
offered to you now. Embrace the Saviour, while he 
waits to be gracious. 

7 



74 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 



CHAPTER VIII- 

Several principles of the doctrine of provi- 
dence OVER BAD MEN, ILLUSTRATED IN THE LIFE 
AND END OF JUDAS ISCARIOT. 

/CHRIST'S ministers are often deceived; Christ, 
^-' never. He knows all things. He never was 
overreached. His eyes are as flaming fire. He easily 
detects the most specious pretences. He knows all 
men, all hearts, all destinies. 

In many ways he proved all this when on earth. 
In the case of the son of perdition he fully evinced that 
he was not for a moment mistaken in his character. 
It is proposed to show how the course of providence 
ran towards this bad man. In order to effect that 
object, it is best 

I. TO BEGIN WITH A HISTORIC STATEMENT. 

His name was Judas, and his surname was Iscariot. 
Judas, Juda, Judah, Jehudah, and Jude are all the 
same word, varied only in unimportant particulars. 
The word Judas literally signifies, the praise of the 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 75 

Lord. The name was common among the Israelites. 
One of Jacob's sons was called Judah. From him 
descended the tribe, within whose territory was Jeru- 
salem, and from which arose the name of Jews. After 
the ten tribes broke off, Judah designated the tribes 
of Judah and Benjamin, while the rest were called 
Israel. One of the Maccabees, very renowned in his- 
tory, was called Judas. Another of them, who bore 
the same name, suffered martyrdom under Antiochus 
Epiphanes. Besides these, there are several other 
persons of the same name, more or less noticed in 
Jewish history before the coming of Christ. After 
that we have an account of four meil called Judas. 
One was Paul's host at Damascus. Acts ix. 11. 
Another was surnamed Barsabas. He was sent with 
Paul and Barnabas and Silas to carry to Antioch the 
decrees of the Council of Jerusalem. This was itself 
a high honor. Luke calls him one of the " chief men 
among the brethren." Acts xv. 22. Another was 
surnamed Thaddeus, or Lebbeus, or Zelotes. In 
Matthew xiii. 55, he is called the brother (or kinsman) 
of our Lord. He is thought to have been the son of 
Mary, the sister of the blessed virgin, and the brother 
of James the Less. If so, he was, according to the 
flesh, cousin-german to Jesus. His father's name was 
Alpheus. The last epistle in the Bible bears the name 
of Jude, and was written by this man. The other 



76 JEHOVAH- JIREH. 

Judas, mentioned as living in the first century of the 
Christian era, is the betrayer of our Lord, surnamed 
Iscariot. The word Iscariot is variously derived. 
Some say it is an abbreviation of Issachariothes, and 
simply declares that he was of the tribe of Issachar. 
Others derive it from two Hebrew words that unitedly 
signify, a man of murder. Others suppose that his 
surname simply shows that he was of the place called 
Carioth or Kerioth. This is probably the true ex- 
planation. Ish-Carioth or Iscariot is literally, a man 
of Carioth. 

Before entering into the particulars of his history, 
observe 

1. There is no evidence that Judas Iscariot was a 
man of bad countenance. Most men are much influ- 
enced by looks, and many think they can tell a man's 
character by the physiognomy. This may often be 
true; but there are many exceptions. The case of 
Judas was probably one. In paintings intended to 
represent him, he is commonly distinguished by a sly, 
mean, cunning, malicious countenance. There is nothing 
in Scripture to warrant artists in so painting him, be- 
yond the simple fact of his wickedness. For aught 
that appears to the contrary, he was a man of calm, 
free, open, placid, benignant countenance. 

2. There is no evidence that, up to his betrayal oj 
his Lord, his conduct was the subject of censure, com- 



JUDAS ISCAMOT. 77 

plaint, jealousy, or of the slightest suspicion. Until 
the night when he committed the traitorous deed, his 
reputation seems to have been fair, and without the 
shadow of a blemish. He was not ambitious, as James 
and John on one occasion were. He was free from 
the characteristic rashness of Peter. His sins were all 
concealed from the eyes of mortals. He was a thief; 
but that was known only to Omniscience. 

3. There is no evidence that, during his continuance 
with Christ, he regarded himself as a hypocrite. 
Doubtless he thought himself honest. He knew no 
other kind of sincerity than that which he possessed. 
He may have had solemn and joyful feelings under 
the preaching of Christ. He may have had very aw- 
ful and tender thoughts when he himself was preach- 
ing. Such is man's self-ignorance, that it is probable 
not one in ten thousand who are hypocrites firmly be- 
lieve that such is their character. Nay, it commonly 
happens, that the worse men are, the better they think 
themselves to be. 

4. Let it not be supposed that Judas ought not to 
have known his character. He shut his eyes to the 
truth respecting himself. He voluntarily rejected 
evidence that would have convicted him at the bar of 
his own conscience. Self-ignorance is a great sin. It 
is fostered by pride and unbelief and impenitence. 

The first mention made of this man is entirely cred- 



78 JEHOVAH- JIREH. 

itable to him. He Is introduced to us as one of the 
twelve, whom Christ chose as disciples and confidential 
friends, to be with him and hear his instructions, both 
public and private. We are not told that Christ ever 
availed himself of the absence of Judas to make any 
communications to the eleven, until the night of his 
betrayal. Peter, James and John were more with 
Christ than the others. But between Judas and the 
other eight there does not appear to have been any 
marked difference in the treatment which they re- 
ceived at the hands of the Saviour. 

Having for some time been a disciple, the Lord or- 
dained him with the other eleven to the office and 
work of an apostle. Matt. x. 2-4; Mark iii. 13-19; 
Luke vi. 13-16. Since the birth of Christ this is the 
highest office to which any mortal could attain. The 
gifts requisite for the performance of its duties w T ere 
extraordinary and miraculous. They belong to no man 
now living. The proofs of an apostle were in signs, 
and wonders, and mighty deeds. 2 Cor. xii. 12. 
Every apostle must have seen the Lord. 1 Cor. ix. 1. 
There were in early times, as there are still, vain pre- 
tenders to this office; but it is the duty and honor of 
the churches to expose their idle claims. Rev. ii. 2. 
But Judas was an apostle, and performed the duties 
of his office as did his fellows. He preached, he 
healed the sick, he cleansed the lepers, he raised the 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 79 

dead, he cast out devils. One part of the apostolic 
commission required the shaking off of the dust from 
the feet as a testimony against those who would not re- 
ceive them nor hear their words. It may be that 
Judas did this very thing, but there is no evidence 
that he was more denunciatory than others. 

After the return of the apostles from their first 
mission, and after they had given an account of their 
success, there is nothing said of Judas, until James and 
John, at the instigation and through the instrumen- 
tality of their mother, applied for the superiority over 
their brethren. On this occasion, it is said: "The ten 
were moved with indignation against the two brethren." 
Matt. xx. 24. Mark says: "When the ten heard it, 
they began to be much displeased with James and John." 
x. 41. The record shows no difference between the 
behaviour of Judas and that of the nine others. They 
all may have spoken of the wickedness of such ambi- 
tion, and their remarks may have been very just. Ju- 
das may have been as temperate as the rest. There is 
no evidence that he possessed a bitter or intolerant 
spirit beyond others, nor that he was often guilty 
of censoriousness. It is not at all improbable that 
Peter was more liable to reproof in this matter than 
Judas. 

Soon after this, we find Christ warning his disciples 
against "the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypo- 



80 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

erisy." Luke xii. 1. Judas may have improved this 
hint so far as to attack these arch deceivers, and to 
preach some very searching, alarming sermons. But 
as a matter of personal application to his own heart 
and conscience, the warning seems to have been wholly 
neglected. Like many modern hypocrites, he proba- 
bly gloried in his sincerity. Even bold transgressors, 
who break all God's laws, often boast of their truth, 
candor and honesty. 

Not very long after this, Christ made a more 
pointed declaration, which must have excited consider- 
able attention. It was this: "Have I not chosen you 
twelve, and one of you is a devil?" John vi. 70. 
We are not left to conjecture who was intended, for 
the Evangelist adds : " He spake of Judas Iscariot, the 
son of Simon : for he it was that should betray him, 
being one of the twelve." John vi. 71. Some time 
after Jesus said: "Ye are clean, but not all. For he 
knew who should betray him : therefore said he, Ye are 
not all clean." John xiii. 10, 11. What effect these 
sayings may have had, we are not informed. But 
they do not seem to have provoked any uncharitable 
remarks. Even Judas seems to have remembered 
that Christ had said: "Judge not, that ye be not 
judged." Matt. vii. 1. But we do not learn that 
these warnings of Christ caused Judas to search his 
own heart. It is certain that they had no permanent, 



JUDAS ISCAMOT. 81 

salutary effect; though it is almost inconceivable that 
they should have been wholly powerless. 

The next account we have of Judas respects his 
apparent regard for the poor. When the affectionate 
Mary anointed the feet of the blessed Jesus, Judas was 
there. Being treasurer of Christ's family, and acting 
without auditors, he had dishonestly used some of the 
funds for his own private purposes. Hence he is 
called " a thief." It is nowhere hinted, however, that 
he esteemed himself a rogue. He may have thought 
that he ought to have more than any other, as he had 
all the care of the fisc. He may also have deceived 
himself with idle plans of future restitution. There 
is no evidence that he fully condemned himself for a 
moment, though he may have had qualms and mis- 
givings. When Mary anointed the Lord, Judas 
objected to such an expenditure, and on grounds quite 
plausible to some minds : "Why was not this ointment 
sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor ?" 
John xii. 5. This reasoning seems to have struck 
others, who were good men. Matthew says: "The 
disciples had indignation, saying, To what purpose is 
this waste?" And Mark says: "There were some 
that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why 
was this waste of the ointment made ? For it might 
have been sold for more than three hundred pence, 
and given to the poor. And they murmured againsi 



8^ JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

her.' 9 Mark xiv. 4, 5. How often are good men led 
astray by the specious pretences of bad men. Judas 
cared not for the poor, but he coveted that money. 
He did not see what good it could do to anoint the 
Lord with so very precious ointment. It was not 
necessary for purposes of health. And Mary might 
have honored Christ in some other way. Besides, by 
giving the price of that ointment to the Lord, who 
regarded the poor as his friends, and who always gave 
alms when he could, there would have been no waste. 
We have much Iscariot charity in our day. No doubt 
some said of Judas: "What a kind heart he has to 
the poor. He never forgets them." We have modern 
economists, who love Christ no more than Judas, and 
who extol everything that looks like saving money in 
efforts that are merely to honor Christ. 

It is strange that the enemies of our Lord seem 
never to have thought of winning over any of his dis- 
ciples. This is strong proof of the entire absence of 
suspicion respecting their fidelity. Accordingly they 
did not apply to any of the apostles to turn traitor ; 
but " one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went 
unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will 
ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you ? And 
they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. 
And from that time he sought opportunity to betray 
him." Matt. xxvi. 14-16. This is the account given 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 83 

by one Evangelist. That of Luke is much like it : 
"Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, 
being of the number of the twelve. And he went his 
way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, 
how he might betray him unto them. And they were 
glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he 
promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto 
them in the absence of the multitude." Luke xxii. 
3-6. It is probable these enemies of Christ were 
much surprised when they saw and knew Judas, and 
still more when they learned his errand. This was 
the moment of exultation to wicked men and apostate 
angels. They seem to have thought that at last they 
would ease themselves of him whose sermons and 
miracles had made such an impression. When Judas 
went to the chief priests, he probably expected to ob- 
tain several thousand pieces of silver, and thought thus 
to make his fortune. Possibly he intended to get his 
money, fulfil his bargain, and put his Master into 
their hands ; but expected Christ immediately to de- 
liver himself out of their power. Thus the traitor 
would have become a swindler. Whatever were his 
thoughts, he made the offer to betray him. The chief 
priests loved money, and understood bargaining. They 
probably saw in Judas an anxiety to hasten the matter. 
This would make them appear less careful in the busi- 
ness, until at length he sold to them the Lord of life 



84 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

and glory for thirty pieces of silver, a sum equal to 
£3 17s. 6d. sterling. 

The bargain being made, the difficulty with Judas 
now was to fulfil his part of it. "And from that time 
he sought opportunity to betray him." Wickedness 
is troublesome. Probably Judas gave frequent assu- 
rances of fidelity in his covenant with the Jews, and 
would have pretended to be grossly insulted if any had 
charged him with a design of fraud. Sin fearfully 
blinds the mind, and hardens the heart. The devil 
seems now to have had full possession of Judas. He 
took no time, he had no heart for reflection. He may 
have kept up some form of prayer, but there was no 
sincerity in him or his devotions. 

At the celebration of the Passover, Jesus said: 
"Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray 
me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began 
every one of them to say, Lord, is it I ? And he 
answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me 
in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of 
man goeth as it is written of him : but woe unto that 
man by whom the Son of man is betrayed ! it had 
been good for that man if he had not been born. Then 
Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Mas- 
ter, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said." 
Matt. xxvi. 21-25. When it is said, "They were 
exceeding sorrowful," the reference is doubtless to the 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 85 

others beside Judas. It almost broke their hearts to 
think it possible that they should prove traitors. But 
although Judas, last of all, asked, "Is it I?" yet there 
is no evidence that he had any right feelings, but the 
contrary. As soon as Christ told him what he should 
do, Judas withdrew and sought his accomplices in 
wickedness. This exposure before the whole family 
of Christ seems to have stirred up the deepest malice, 
and Judas felt no longer any restraint from the decencies 
of the case. The traitor having withdrawn, Jesus 
said: "Behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of 
man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let 
us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray 
me. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the 
twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with 
swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of 
the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, 
saying, "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold 
him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, 
Hail, Master; and kissed him." Matt. xxvi. 45-49; 
compare Luke xxii. 47-49. What a band was this! 
What a betrayal was here ! How cold and impudent 
the malignity of the traitor! How enormous his guilt! 
One would have expected that at this moment, hell 
would feel such mighty raven for her prey, as to 
open wide her mouth and swallow him alive. But 
his cup was not yet full. He who was ready to 



s 

86 JEHOVAH-JTREH. 

sell his Master, would soon be ready to throw himself 
away. 

The deed was now done. The bargain was fulfilled 
on both sides. Judas had put his Master into the 
hands of his murderers, and he had obtained his pro- 
mised reward. But presently the silver began to lose 
its lustre, and the money its value. The price of blood 
began to torment its possessor. The, inspired record is 
brief but striking: "Then Judas, which had betrayed 
him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, repented 
himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to 
the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in 
that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, 
What is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast 
down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, 
and went and hanged himself." Matt, xxvii. 3-5. He 
could not endure the fell gnaw of the undying worm. 
That silver filled his soul with horrors intolerable. 
Of late he had greatly desired it, but now he throws it, 
down in the temple, and calls upon the priests, the 
ministers of religion, for some alleviation of his dis- 
tress; but they are cold, and pay him no regard. They 
were not willing to receive back the price of his treason. 
Not believing in the value and efficacy of that blood 
which cleanses from all sin, not beholding in Jesus 
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
world, not finding any sympathy from his accomplices, 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 87 

conscience wielding over his guilty spirit the terrible 
sword of eternal and inflexible justice, and a hell burn- 
ing within him, he hanged himself, shot the awful 
gulf of death, and plunged into an undone eternity. 
"He went to his own place." 

The aggravations of the sin of betraying Christ were 
many and great. The traitor was eminent in place, in 
gifts, in office, in profession ; a guide to others, and one 
whose example was likely to influence many, and if 
evil, to give great occasion to the enemy to speak re- 
proachfully. His sin had for its object the Lord 
Jesus Christ. It was an attack on God himself. 

This sin admitted of no reparation, no restitution. 
It was against mercies, against convictions of con- 
science, against frequent and recent admonitions, 
against his ordination vows, against his own preach- 
ing, against all the rules of friendship, against all the 
bonds of discipleship. It was committed deliberately, 
wilfully, knowingly, presumptuously, impudently, ma- 
liciously. It was perpetrated just after the most 
solemn and tender interview on record, just after be- 
ing engaged in the most solemn rites of religion. It 
was of a scarlet dye and of a crimson hue. 

Taking his own life was but adding iniquity to ini- 
quity. He may have justified himself in his suicide, 
and thought that he had a right to do as he pleased 
with his earthly existence. Perhaps he thought also 



88 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

that hell itself could not be more intolerable than his 
present anguish. Miserable man! why wilt thou place 
the seal of immutability on thy own perdition, making 
thy doom irreversible, and putting thy soul beyond 
the reach of even the mercy of God? Oh! what a 
fiend is man without the grace of God ! No natural 
amiability, no faithful instructions, no power of work- 
ing miracles, no solemn sacraments, no tears and 
warnings can hold back any man from the vilest sins 
and the hottest hell. God's free, sovereign, eternal 
love can alone save any soul. 
II. Let us note some of the principles which 

MARK THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD TOWARDS THIS MAN. 

1. All God does is just. In due time and manner, 
the Lord will show that he is righteous. His mercy 
may long be trampled on, but never with impunity. 
He is a jealous God, even when he seems for a season to 
let the wicked have their own way. God's character 
is safe in God's keeping. No man now dares to call 
in question the righteousness of the course of provi- 
dence towards the son of perdition. The Judge of all 
the earth will do right; and he will make all the earth 
see it. 

2. God often influences men by causes that seem to 
us very trivial. It is never safe to despise the day of 
small things, be they good or evil. Because God is 
almighty and all-wise, and man feeble and ignorant. 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 89 

mortals cannot tell whether an event or a cause is 
great or small. Little rills form the greatest rivers 
The ocean itself is made up of drops of rain, or par- 
ticles of mist. A man is what his daily habits make 
him. He who cannot resist a slight temptation is ill 
prepared to war with giants. "If thou hast run with 
the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how 
canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of 
peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then 
how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" Jer. 
xii. 5. 

3. Providence so arranges human affairs that every- 
thing in life is a test of character. If one is rich, his 
wealth will try his humility. If one is poor, he will 
soon show whether he is contented. If a bribe is held 
out, it will evince how far covetousness prevails. If 
one is put into office like Judas, he himself may soon 
see whether his integrity is unspotted. If God leads 
the Israelites forty years through the wilderness, it is 
to humble them and to prove them. Deut. viii. 2. If 
he feeds them with manna, it is for the same purpose. 
Deut. viii. 16. If ambassadors are sent to Hezekiah, 
it is "to try him, that he might know all that was in 
his heart." 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. 

4. Such being the arrangements of providence it is 
impossible but that offences will come, as long as there 
are wicked men in the world. Luke xvii. 1. The 



90 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

wicked will do wickedly. Dan. xii. 10. " There must 
also be heresies among you, that they which are ap- 
proved may be made manifest among you." 1 Cor. xi. 
19. Open defections from truth and righteousness are 
to be expected in this wicked world. It has been so 
from the beginning. Jesus had his Judas ; Peter, his 
Ananias ; and Paul, his Demas. Those that are not 
of us will go out from us. If they were of us, they 
would no doubt continue with us. The carnal and 
confident generally apostatize as soon as the heat of 
temptation is felt. 

5. Providence so arranges affairs in this world, that 
even the wicked who hate him, shall certainly glorify 
him, even by their misdeeds. The treason of Judas 
was by the Lord overruled to bring about the most 
important event leading to man's salvation. Let the 
wicked never forget that their unbelief, impenitence, 
profaneness, and persecution of the godly, all their 
sins of heart, of life, and of tongue, shall in spite of 
themselves bring honor to God, though it be at the 
fearful loss of their own souls. The wicked now hate 
God but they cannot defeat him. If they will not be 
vessels to honor, they shall be vessels to dishonor. If 
they refuse to be useful in a cheerful service, they shall 
be useful in their own destruction. Ezek. xv. 1-8 ; 
compare Ps. lxxvi. 10. 

6. God will bring good out of evil, however atio- 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 91 

cious it may be. This does not abate the guilt of 
those who work iniquity. There never was greater 
wickedness in any one act than in the treachery of 
Judas. Yet see what God has wrought thereby. His 
sin was foretold, and of course it was predetermined. 
Yet his accountability for his wickedness was unim- 
paired ; for he acted freely in all he did. Men may 
clamorously assert, but they never can prove that the 
divine purpose infracts human agency, or impairs 
human obligation. Judas could not have had more 
liberty; therefore his guilt remained. That which 
was true of the betrayer was also true of the murderers 
of our Lord. The same reasoning applies to both. 
Acts ii. 23 ; iv. 27, 28. " It is wonderful that think- 
ing and studious men do not see, that the whole system 
of prophecy is a direct and full confutation of all 
objections, on this ground, against the doctrine of pre- 
destination. The predicted events cannot possibly fail 
of accomplishment; they must either therefore be 
absolutely decreed by the all-wise God, or there must 
be some necessity which cannot be overcome even by 
the Deity himself. The first is Christian predestina- 
tion, the latter is heathen fatalism ; but neither inter- 
feres with man's free agency or accountableness ; for 
he still acts voluntarily, according to the prevailing 
inclinations of his heart." 

7. So perfect is the providence of God over the 



92 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

hearts of all men that nothing is beyond his control. 
" The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the 
rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." 
Prov. xxi. 1. Man cannot even have a thought that 
is not foolish and futile except as the Lord strengthens 
him. 2 Cor. iii. 5. 

8. Providence has so left things that the purest 
churches may have wicked members. The Lord has 
not granted the power of discerning spirits. Infallible 
evidence of love to Christ in our brethren is not attain- 
able. A profession of piety accompanied by such 
evidence as an apparently consistent Christian life 
affords, is as much as we may demand. Our Lord 
knew Judas to be "a devil;" but his omniscience 
taught him this. Neither the profession nor outward 
life declared the baseness of the false disciple. So the 
Saviour received him into the church, leaving us an 
example that we should follow his steps. Our Lord 
judged of the members of his church, not by what he 
as God knew of their hearts, but by their credible pro- 
fession. He would not reject professors, who, in the 
judgment of charity, were honest. He practised on 
the true rule. Let us seek no other. However pain- 
ful our fears concerning the real characters of men, we 
must respect a credible profession of piety, not contra- 
dicted by a wicked life. 

9. God has so arranged things that we ought to dis- 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 93 

tinguish between personal and official character. If 
we do not, we will deceive, and be deceived. All 
official characters may be sustained without any real 
grace in the heart. Balaam's prophecies were as true 
and as sublime as those of Moses or of Isaiah. So far 
as we know, Judas' performance of the duties of his 
apostolic mission was as acceptable and as useful as 
that of a majority of his brethren. Even success in 
preaching is not proof of piety. It is the message, not 
the messenger ; the truth preached, and not the man 
who utters it, that converts the soul. Piety is of infi- 
nite importance to every soul of man ; but one who has 
no piety may yet do good. Neither the validity nor 
efficacy of ordinances depends upon the personal worthi- 
ness of the administrator. It would be very dangerous 
to teach that our acceptance in approaching God is 
rendered less certain by the hypocrisy of him who 
comes to us in Jehovah's name. The Apostles ex- 
pressly denied that it was by their own power or holi- 
ness that they wrought miracles. The efficacy and 
saving power of ordinances are from the Lord alone. 
As worthy partakers of the Lord's Supper cannot be 
hindered by the insincerity of the administrator, so 
neither can the unworthy receiver secure the blessing 
by the piety of his minister. 

10. The history of the world abounds with illustra- 
tions of this great principle in Providence, that how- 



94 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

ever secret iniquity may be, it will ultimately find its 
way to the light. " Be sure your sin will find you 
out." Num. xxxii. 23; compare 2 Sam. xii. 12; Matt. 
x. 26 ; Mark iv. 22; Luke viii. 17; xii. 2. 

11. Sin kills the soul, and this according to the 
great laws of retribution. We see in Judas a 
fearful example of the terrible judgment of God 
against the wicked. As he loved cursing, so it came 
unto him : as he delighted not in blessing, so it was 
far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like 
as with his garment, so it came into his bowels like 
water, and like oil into his bones. Ps. cix. 17, 18. 

12. Every society of ungodly men has in it the ele- 
ments of dissolution and of self-torment. There is no 
love between the wicked which can stand the test of 
severe trial. As sin is weakness, so, in his providence, 
God continually proves its hollowness and insufficiency 
to bind men together in concord and usefulness. As 
soon as the traitor's troubles came, his allies in sin 
cried: "What is that to us? See thou to that." 
They never had any sympathy for him. They cruelly 
cast him off. Every sinner will at last esteem every 
other sinner and himself also a fool. 

III. Such a history and such a course of pro- 
vidence TEACH US MANY THINGS IMPORTANT FOR US 
ALE to learn. Let us not suppose that we are natu- 
rally better than Judas. Let us ponder the paths of 



JUDAS ISCARIOT* 95 

our feet. Let us take heed to our ways, lest we also 
come to a bad end. The lessons we may learn are 
such as these: 

When a man is once fairly started in a career of 
wickedness, it is impossible to tell where he will stop. 
God's grace may arrest one in the maddest career, as 
it did Saul of Tarsus. But left to himself, man will 
dig into hell. The good providence of God mercifully 
restrains even the wicked, else existence on earth 
would not be desirable. Scenes of violence and blood, 
deeds of outrage and atrocity, words of hatred and 
blasphemy, and looks of fierceness and terror would 
appal us every hour, but that God lays his almighty 
hand upon the hearts of men and commands them to 
be still. Unrestrained, every heart would show its 
possessor a monster of wickedness. Passions, which 
now lie smothered, would, if let loose, rage and sweep 
every thing before them. Natural affection, the voice 
of conscience, public opinion, regard to reputation, 
and fear of the law, are happily employed by provi- 
dence to hold men back. Even in this life many a 
poor sinner has been affrighted at the lengths which 
he had gone in crime and debasement, and has cried 
out in sore amazement: "And have I come to this?" 
In the next world surprise awaits all the impenitent. 
u When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden 
destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a wo- 



96 JEHOVAII-JIREH. 

man with child; and they shall not escape." 1 Thess. 
v. 3. 

All men should especially beware of covetousness. 
"The love of money is the root of all evil: which 
while some coveted after, they have erred from the 
faith, and pierced themselves through with many sor- 
rows." 1 Tim. vi. 10. Of the truth of this teaching 
Judas was a fearful witness. No tongue, no pen can 
describe the sorrows which rolled over his soul. 
When men are eagerly heaping up riches, they are 
doing work for bitter repentance in this world, or in 
that which is to come. Even on earth "the covetous 
man heaps up riches, not to enjoy them, but to have 
them ; and starves himself in the midst of plenty ; and 
most unnaturally cheats and robs himself of that which 
is his own ; and makes a hard shift to be as poor and mi- 
serable with a great estate as any man can be without it." 
Nor can he divine who shall be the gainer by all his 
toils. "He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who 
shall gather them." Ps. xxxix. 6. God has specially set 
himself to punish covetousness. It is idolatry. It is 
as true of this sin as of drunkenness, that in the end it 
biteth like the serpent, and stingeth like the adder. 

Did men but know how bitter would be the end of 
transgression, they would at least pause before they 
plunge into all evil. Seneca said: "Malice drinks 
half its own poison." The same is true of all evil 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 97 

passions. The madness of men in rebelling against 
God is beyond a parallel in human history. They de- 
light in iniquity, they roll it as a sweet morsel under 
their tongue, they risk all for it, and they lose all by 
it. Their hearts are fully set in them to do evil. 
Oh! that men would hear the warning words of 
Richard Baxter: "Use sin as it will use you; spare it 
not, for it will not spare you ; it is your murderer and 
the murderer of the world. Use it, therefore, as a 
murderer should be used. Kill it before it kills you; 
and though it kill your bodies, it shall not be able to 
kill your souls; and though it bring you to the grave, 
as it did your Head, it shall not be able to keep you 
there." James says : "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth 
forth death." James i. 15. Yet no man, without the 
grace of God, sees the evil of sin till it is too late. 
Folly is bound up in the soul of man, till God drives 
it away by the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. 

In Judas' pretended regard for the poor, w r e see 
what foul wickedness may be covered with the most 
plausible pretences. The same thing is seen in every 
age. By false names every virtue is depressed and 
every vice exalted. Pascal says: "One of the greatest 
artifices the devil uses to engage men in vice and de- 
bauchery is to fasten the names of contempt on certain 
virtues, and thus to fill weak souls with a foolish fear 
of passing for scrupulous should they desire to put 



98 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

them in practice." The man who beggars widows and 
orphans, and holds back the wages of the hireling, and 
lives by the distresses he brings on others, would fain 
persuade himself and his neighbors that he is prudent. 
Indeed, any pretext will satisfy a blind, stupid con- 
science. The great concern of the masses is to justify 
themselves before men. They little regard the tribu- 
nal of God. Yet the investigations of the last day 
will tear off all false pretences, and sweep away every 
refuge of lies. 

Nor should we forget that character may as well be 
learned from small as from great things. Judas' petty 
larceny was as good an index to his character as his 
treason. A straw will show which way the wind blows. 
Human character is not made up of a few great acts, 
but of a multitude of little things. E very-day conduct 
shows the man. Great events, in which we are actors, 
will fearfully expose us, if in small affairs we are 
unable to behave well. The failure of our virtue on 
great occasions is but an announcement to the world 
that we have been habitually coming short in our more 
private behaviour. 

It is also manifest that bad men may for a long time 
appear well. To do so may cost them trouble, but 
may still be practicable. Through life they may have 
such a fear of exposure, and be so studious of appear- 
ances, as to deceive all around them. Even suspicion 



JUDAS ISCAMOT, 99 

may not soil their fair name, and yet they may be in 
the gall of bitterness. Eschewing the vices of the 
debauched, they may practice the sins of devils. It is 
true that this class of transgressors have a hard task. 
They are always like one who has a rent in his gar- 
ment, which he finds difficult to conceal. Truth is 
one and simple. Falsehood is multiform and complex. 
An honest blunderer is to be preferred before the most 
cunning knave on earth. A life of deception is full 
of hardship and uncertainty; and at its close, when 
amendment is impossible, the truth comes out, and in 
a moment damnation flashes in the face, and the poor 
soul enters on an existence full of misery. When God 
tears away the mask, disguise is no longer possible. 

And yet bad men might know the truth concerning 
themselves if they did not hate it. Judas well knew 
his own theft, yet he refused to consider it a sin to be 
repented of. He had before his mind the clear evi- 
dence of his own hypocrisy, but he was not disposed 
to give it its just weight. He hated the light, and did 
not come to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 
"When will men learn that concealment is not inno- 
cence? We may hide our sins from our own eyes, 
but until God casts them all behind his back they may 
rise up at any moment and overwhelm us. If men 
were not as unwise as they are wicked, they would not 
go to the bar of God with a lie in their right hand. 



100 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

How small a temptation to sin will at last prevail 
over a vicious mind. For less than twenty dollars, 
Judas sold his Lord and Master. Those temptations 
commonly esteemed great are not the most sure to 
prevail. The ribaldry of the Philistines did not move 
Samson from his fidelity; but the blandishments of 
Delilah overcame him. Esau sold his birthright for 
a mess of pottage. Many a man consents to lose a 
friend for his wit, yea, to lose his soul for a quibble. 
Men may sin until the mere force of habit, without any 
apparent inducement, seems sufficient to impel them 
to great enormities. 

Nothing prepares a man for destruction faster than 
hypocrisy or formality in actions of a religious nature. 
The three years which Judas spent in the family of 
our Lord probably exceeded all the rest of his life in 
ripening him for destruction. So many, so solemn, so 
impressive truths were presented to his mind, that he 
must have become very rapidly hardened. " I have 
peace-offerings with me; this day have I paid my 
vows," Prov. vii. 14, said one who was now ready for 
the worst deeds. The reason why, other things being 
equal, apostates are so much more wicked than others, 
is that they have learned how to resist all good influ- 
ences. They have tried the remedy, but first learned 
to render it ineffectual. 

It is a small matter to be judged of man's judgment. 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 101 

The judgment of God, it shall stand ; it is righteous* 
it is always according to truth. Man judges of the 
heart by appearances. God judges of appearances by 
the heart, and he judges of the heart by itself. The 
tribunal, from which there lies no appeal, will reverse 
a vast number of the decisions made by the tribunals 
of earth. Public opinion often errs. Individual 
judgments are as often erroneous. If men condemn 
and God approves, all is well. But if men acquit and 
God condemns, all is lost. He that judgeth us is the 
Lord. 

The history of Judas shows us how man will cling 
to false hopes. Hypocrites hold fast their delusive 
expectations with the utmost tenacity. There is no 
evidence that during years of hypocrisy Judas ever 
seriously doubted his own piety. There were many 
sure marks, indeed, against him ; but what cares any 
hypocrite for evidence ? His own blind confidence is 
to him more powerful than all the truths of God's 
word. Because he is determined to believe his state 
good, nothing will convince him to the contrary. 

We have a full refutation of the objection made to a 

connection with the visible church, because there are 

wicked men in her communion. The apostles certainly 

knew that among them was one bad man ; but they 

did not therefore renounce their portion among Christ's 

confessed friends. And Christ himself held inter- 
9* 



102 JEHOVAH-JIREH. \ 

course with Judas just as if he were all he professed to 
be. So that if one certainly knew another to be an 
enemy of God, and yet could not prove it to the satis- 
faction of impartial church authorities, this should not 
debar him from the Lord's table. If dogs will some- 
times get the children's bread, that is no reason why a 
table should not be spread for the children. 

In all our dealings with men, it is better to be some- 
times imposed on, than to be of a suspicious temper. 
"With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." 
Sometimes we must put ourselves in the power of 
others. To suspect every man will make us unhappy, 
and commonly prove us to be unworthy of confidence 
ourselves. Even a wise man of the world once said : 
"Always to think the worst, I have ever found to be 
the mark of a mean spirit and a base soul." 

How difficult it is to bring home truth to the deceit- 
ful heart of man. Hypocrites are slow to improve 
close, discriminating preaching. They desire not to 
look into their real characters. It was not until all 
the rest had inquired whether Christ referred to them 
in foretelling his betrayal, that Judas said : " Lord, is 
it I?" Thorough, impartial, frequent self-examina- 
tion is not the characteristic of any who are at heart 
unsound. In fact the reluctance of some to this duty 
is sad evidence against them. It costs them too much. 
Aversion to close, searching sermons is a bad mark in 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 103 

any man's character. Such preaching often afflicts the 
righteous more than the wicked, though the latter are 
the most apt to be offended. When Christ had ex- 
posed the miserable hypocrisy of many who followed 
him, it is said : " From that time many of his disciples 
went back, and walked no more with him." John vi. 
66. They could not endure the truth. Yet Judas 
smothered up his feelings, and bore it all. He cared 
not so much for his feelings. He went after his covet- 
ousness. 

Nor could one do a wiser thing than to inquire 
whether he has better evidence of piety than the great 
traitor had during his apostleship. Judas could heal 
the sick, raise the dead, and cast out devils. He was 
first a disciple, and then an apostle of our Lord. He 
often heard Christ preach. He held the only office of 
trust among the apostles. His reputation for piety 
stood as fair as any man's. His persuasion of his good 
state seems to have been so firm, that he hardly felt 
inclined to look into the grounds of his hopes. He 
was not a drunkard, nor a swearer. He was not a 
captious hearer of the Gospel. Without a murmur he 
bore all the fatigue of his apostolic mission. He was 
not an envious man beyond others. He was not a 
slanderer, a reviler, a backbiter, a whisperer. He dis- 
played no inordinate ambition. He was not a brawler, 
nor a violent and outrageous man. And yet he was 



104 JEHOVAH-JIREH. ^ 

not a child of God. Mere negative goodness, mere 
freedom from open vice, proves no man an heir of 
glory. It is true there was sufficient evidence against 
Judas, but he willingly overlooked that. If many 
men had as good evidence against their enemies or 
their neighbors, as they have against themselves, they 
would speedily pronounce them hypocrites. 

The case of Judas discloses the uselessness of that 
sorrow of the world which works death, has no hope 
in it, and drives the soul to madness. It is not despe- 
ration, but penitence, that God requires. Regrets 
without hatred of sin are useless, both on earth and in 
hell. They avail nothing in time, nothing in eternity. 
When it is said Judas repented, the word translated, 
repented, is not the word used by inspired writers to 
express godly sorrow, or saving repentance. There is 
much sorrow that does but prepare men for other and 
more dreadful deeds. 

God's judgments are still abroad in the earth. Of 
all judgments, those which are spiritual should most 
alarm us. To have eyes and not see, to have ears and 
not hear, to have hearts and not understand, to hold 
the truth in unrighteousness, to be forsaken of God, to 
be given over to believe a lie — these are among the 
direst curses that fall on men in this world : and they 
are sure forerunners of God's sorest plagues in the 
world to come. And how fearful must it be to fall 



JUDAS ISCAMOT. 105 

into the hands of the living God, when on earth a drop 
of his wrath will make men choose hanging rather than 
life. And how dismal must be the prospects of all 
who die in their sins, when they shall have for their 
companions Judas and all evil-minded men, the devil 
and his angels. The society of the damned is good 
ground of earnestness in fleeing from the wrath to 
come. 

The doctrine of universal salvation has no counte- 
nance in Scripture. It is disproven by many express 
declarations, and by many fair and necessary infer- 
ences. It is disproven by the case of Judas. If, after 
many thousand years of suffering, he shall rise to ever- 
lasting happiness in the skies, it will be good for him 
that he was born. Eternal happiness far outweighs 
all temporal suffering, however protracted. Any exist- 
ence which terminates in eternal glory will prove a 
blessing beyond all computation. All temporal suffer- 
ing can be gauged. But who can fathom the sea of 
love, the ocean of bliss, made sure to all believers ? 
And eternal misery is as dreadful as eternal glory is 
delightful. Oh ! how fearful must be the doom of the 
incorrigibly wicked, when in their case existence itself 
ceases to be desirable, or even tolerable ! It is true of 
every one who dies without repentance toward God, 
and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, that it had been 

GOOD FOE THAT MAN IF HE HAD NOT BEEN BORN. 

E* 



106 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 



CHAPTER IX. 

god's providence is often mysterious. 

ryRO VIDENCE is a greater mystery than revela- 
-■- tion. The state of the world is more humiliating 
to our reason than the doctrines of the gospel. A re- 
flecting Christian sees more to excite his astonishment, 
and to exercise his faith, in the state of things between 
Temple Bar and Saint Paul's, than in what he reads 
from Genesis to Revelation. Cecil. 

As the dealings of very wise men sometimes are 
founded on maxims, and admit justifications, not ob- 
vious or penetrable by vulgar conceit; so may God act 
according to rules of wisdom and justice, which it may 
be quite impossible by our faculties to apprehend, or 
with our means to descry. Barrow. 

There is, and ever was somewhat, very much, in 
God's providential administration of the things of this 
world, and the concernments of the sons of men 
therein, which the most improved reason of men can- 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 107 

not reach unto, and which is contrary to all that is in 
us, as merely men. John Owen. 

The book of Providence is inextricable and unintel- 
ligible to the wisest of men who are not governed by 
the word of God. But when the principles of Scrip- 
ture are admitted and understood, they throw a pleas- 
ing light upon the study of Divine Providence, and 
at the same time are confirmed and illustrated by it. 

John Newton. 

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are 
my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts 
than your thoughts. Jehovah. 

No subject has more perplexed good men than the 
dark aspects of Providence. Jeremiah was humble and 
very tender-hearted, yet he says: "Righteous art thou, 
O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with 
thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the 
wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that 
deal very treacherously? Thou hast planted them, 
yea, they have taken root : they grow, yea, they bring 
forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from 
their reins." This pious, humble servant of God was 
sore perplexed. Indeed the Scriptures everywhere 
admit that God's ways are unsearchable. "Thy 
judgments are a great deep." Ps. xxxvi. 6. "Thy 
way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, 



108 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

and thy footsteps are not known." Ps. lxxvii. 19. 
"Marvellous are thy works." Ps. cxxxix. 14. Even 
in heaven itself, glorified ones sing, "Great and mar- 
vellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty." Rev. 
xv. 3. So that inspiration itself everywhere covers 
the eternal throne with clouds and darkness, and ad- 
mits that acts of providence are veiled in mystery. 
Wonders will never cease. Heaven is full of mysteries, 
though none of them are painful, but all of them 
glorious. 

Let us look at several things which must ever make 
the providence of God mysterious to pious men in this 
world. 

I. God's ways of working are infinitely diversified, 
even in the midst of a general uniformity. He saves 
or he destroys in any way he pleases, by the strong, or 
by the weak; by friend or by foe; when danger is 
seen, and when it is unseen. He sends an army of 
men, or an army of caterpillars to punish a guilty na- 
tion. In either case the work is done. He shakes a 
leaf, or sends an earthquake, and each does its errand. 
God is confined to no routine. He knows and com- 
mands all causes, all agents, all truths, all errors, all 
influences, and all oppositions. At a nod he makes 
the great, small ; or the small, great. No mortal can 
tell which of two causes is the greater, till he sees 
what God will make of them. Men and causes are 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 109 

considerable or contemptible according to the fiat of 
Jehovah. That which to us sometimes seems like 
confusion is in fact all order. The evolutions of a 
vast army, however perfect, according to the art of 
war, appear strange to the unaccustomed eye. In the 
seventy-third Psalm, Asaph tells us at length of his 
deep and terrible perplexity when looking at the ways 
of God. Coming to a knowledge of his own igno- 
rance, and of the infinite glory of God, his troubles 
vanish; and he concludes his sorrowful meditations 
with the exultant assurance: "Whom have I in hea- 
ven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I de- 
sire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but 
God is the strength of my heart and my portion for- 
ever." 

II. For many things in providence we can give no 
account, except that so it seemed good to the Judge of 
all the earth. Who can tell why bloody Nero was 
left to ruin by his passions, and Saul of Tarsus, no less 
bloody, was saved? Why was repentance granted to 
one thief on the cross, while the other died a blas- 
phemer? The mercies received by any man are 
wholly undeserved. No man merits any good thing at 
the hand of his Maker. Yet all receive many mercies, 
and some are blessed with all spiritual blessings in 
Christ Jesus. On the other hand, why is one man 

more afflicted than another? All our afflictions are 
10 



110 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

deserved, yea, they are always fewer than we deserve. 
Indeed the wonder is we suffer so little. But the 
whole doctrine of divine judgments is of difficult in- 
terpretation, when we come to individual cases. 
McCosh says: "It is comparatively seldom 'that we 
have such a minute acquaintance with every event in 
the past life of a neighbor, as to be able to determine 
the precise end contemplated in any visitation of God 
towards him. In some cases, indeed, the connection 
is manifest to the man's intimate friend, or to the 
world at large, as when intemperance and excess lead 
to poverty and disease, and cunning leads to distrust, 
and is caught in the net which it laid for others. In 
other cases, the connection is only visible to the indi- 
vidual himself, or his most intimate friends. In all 
cases, it is easier to determine the meaning of the judg- 
ments of God in reference to ourselves, than in their 
reference to others, when they are exposed to them. 
Being ourselves acquainted with all the incidents of 
our past life, we may trace a connection between deeds 
which we have done, and trials sent upon us — a con- 
nection which no other is intended to perceive, or so 
much as to suspect. While affliction can in no case 
prove the existence of sin not otherwise established, 
yet it may be the means of leading the person afflicted 
to inquire, whether he may not in his past life have 
committed some sin, of which this is the punishment 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. Ill 

or cure. Here, as in many other cases, the rule is to 
be strict in judging ourselves and slow in judging 
others." 

III. The absence of pomp and parade in God's 
providence has struck many. How noiseless are most 
of his doings. When in spring Jehovah would reani- 
mate all nature, bring into activity myriads of insects, 
give growth to millions of seeds, and clothe mountains 
and valleys in living green, it is all a silent work 
"When he would subvert a universal monarchy, long 
before the time set for that purpose, he puts it into the 
heart of a great ruler to build a bridge, and for that 
purpose to change the channel of a river for a season. 
This is all done without signs in heaven, or war in the 
elements. In the fulness of time the same river is, by 
means the simplest, diverted from its channel. Bel- 
shazzar is slain, Babylon is a prey to the invader, and 
a universal empire is dissolved. Commonly when 
God depopulates cities and kingdoms, his messengers 
pass silently along, and do their work ere men are 
aware. There was no noise of preparation for the 
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The morning 
of their eternal overthrow was as calm as any on which 
the sun had risen upon them. The destroying angel, 
who slew the first-born of Egypt, spread his mighty 
wings over the land, and from them dropped down 
death on every habitation of man and beast. Yet all 



112 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

was quiet as the grave, till the wail of bereavement 
filled the land with terror. God makes a world with 
less noise than that produced by man when he makes 
a coffin. When Jehovah spread out the heavens and 
set up their unshaken pillars, there was not so much 
as the sound of a hammer. "When on our best rail- 
roads we travel at the rate of sixty miles an hour, the 
rumbling noise is heard afar, the sight of our speed is 
startling to every spectator, and we cannot divest our- 
selves of apprehension. But ever since we were born 
we have been riding on a world moved by God at the 
rate of more than sixty-two thousand miles every hour. 
And yet who has been afraid ? Who has heard any 
startling sound ? This is the more wonderful because 
the motion of the earth is not simple but complex. 
Yet in the midst of all this speed we can hear the 
chirping of a bird, or the dropping of a pin. But 
•when God chooses he can make our ears ta tingle. By 
the shaking of a leaf he can startle us, or make us rise 
up with strange sounds. " The thunder of his power 
who can understand?" When he shall destroy the 
world it shall be with sounds that shall awake the 
dead. "The heavens shall pass away with a great 
noise." When God chooses to be heard, even the 
mountains give ear and obey his voice. At his rebuke 
he dries up the sea, and makes the river a wilderness. 
Yet, ordinarily, his footsteps are not heard, and his 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 113 

voice is but the silent going forth of his almighty 
energy. 

IV. In his mysterious providence God also hides 
his works and ways from man by commonly removing 
results far from human view. In autumn the hus- 
bandman scatters his wheat and buries it under the 
ground. It dies. Search and you shall find it rotten. 
The rigors of a long winter are approaching. The 
unskilled would say this sowing of seed was madness. 
It was casting bread upon the waters. But wait till 
6ummer, and that husbandman shall shout his harvest 
home. What thus occurs in the natural world is a 
type of spiritual things. "They that sow in tears 
shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, 
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with 
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Much as 
the result is hoped for, it is not perceived by any 
mortal. None but God sees the end from the begin- 
ning. Whom he would bless he first puts to the test 
of patient waiting. If the righteous should see the 
happy issue of all that befals them, as it lies open 
before God, their afflictions would be no trials. Had 
Abraham known that all God would require of him 
would be to bind Isaac and lay him on the altar, we 
never should have heard of the illustrious faith of the 
father of believers. Jacob once cried out, " Joseph is 

not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin 
10* 



114 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

away. All these things are against me." He lived 
to see that all these things were for him. But at the 
time of his bereavement lie saw not the blessed end, 
and so his virtue was severely tested. If on the day 
of crucifixion, as on the day of Pentecost, the disciples 
had clearly perceived the results of that scene of terror, 
the Shepherd might have been smitten, but the sheep 
would hardly have been scattered. And it is as true 
of the wicked as of the righteous that they cannot 
foresee results ; they cannot tell what God is about to 
do. None are more surprised than the wicked at the 
conclusion of things under God's control. The sinner 
intends, but God superintends. The creature appoints, 
but God disappoints. Man proposes, but God disposes. 
Lazarus was filled with wonder to find himself in 
Abraham's bosom, but Dives was sore amazed to find 
himself in hell. Neither Pharaoh, nor Belshazzar, nor 
Herod, nor Pilate, expected such results to themselves 
as their wickedness wrought out. "Sin, when it is 
finished, bringeth forth death." But the wicked 
promise themselves life in the midst of all iniquity and 
unbelief. How sorely will their souls be vexed when 
they find themselves eternally, hopelessly disappointed. 
V. God's ways respecting means are very remark- 
able. So far as we can see, he often works without 
means. Perceiving no causes in operation, we expect 
no effects. Seeing no disease, we expect no death. 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 115 

Not looking for a casualty, it finds us unprovided with 
remedies, and we are ready to be swallowed up. As 
we begin to give up all hope, God steps in and relieves 
us. When he chooses, he dispenses with all means. 
He did so when he made the world. He has often 
done so since. " I will have mercy upon the house 
of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, 
and will not save them by bow nor by sword, nor by 
battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen." Hos. i. 7. 
Again, God often works by means, which seem to us 
insignificant. Burke: "The death of a man at a 
critical juncture, his disgust, his retreat, his disgrace, 
have brought innumerable evils on a whole nation. 
A common soldier, a child, a girl at the door of an 
inn, have changed the face of fortune, and almost the 
face of nature." Wellington : " The stumbling of a 
horse may decide the issue of a battle, and so the des- 
tinies of an empire." Will God save Rome from 
pillage ? It shall be done by the cackling of geese. 
Has a man's appointed time upon earth expired ? The 
sting of a bee, the scratch of a pin, a crumb of bread, 
or a vernal zephyr shall be the means of his death. 
Will God prolong the life of Hezekiah ? A lump of 
figs shall have healing efficacy. Will he raise up a 
wonderful nation? It shall be from a man, whose 
body was dead, he being about an hundred years old, 
and the womb of his wife dead also. Rom. iv. 19. More- 



116 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

over God often works contrary to means. How much 
malpractice in medicine does he provide against, and 
thus restore the patient ! How many blunders in his 
ministers does he overrule for good ! Christ would 
give sight to a blind man. He makes clay, puts it on 
his eyes as if to make him more blind, but he is healed. 
A terrible fall dislocates a joint. The bone is not put 
fairly back into its place. Years of lameness and suf- 
fering succeed. A second fall, worse than the first, 
jars the frame, jeopards life, but restores the bone to 
its socket, and soon the man walks and leaps and 
praises God. By death, God destroyed him that had 
the power of death. God often works contrary to the 
natural tendency of means. 

VI. God also employs such instruments as greatly 
confound us. Our ignorance and unbelief would 
choose those whom God rejects, and reject those whom 
he selects. Will he cure Naaman's leprosy? A little 
captive maid shall tell him of the prophet of the Lord. 
Will he lead forth Israel from Egyptian bondage? 
That little infant in a basket among the rushes, by 
edict doomed to death as soon as born, shall be the 
deliverer. Will he make Joseph premier of Egypt? 
. His brethren envy and sell him, the Ishmaelites carry 
him far from all loved ones, Potiphar imprisons him, 
the iron enters into his flesh; yet in God's provi- 
dence every step is onward. How often are those 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 117 

whom we never befriended made to minister to our 
aid and comfort! Must God's people be brought out 
of Babylon? Cyrus shall send forth the binding de- 
cree. This worshipper of the sun deals as tenderly 
with God's people as a nurse with her child. Jt 
would not have been more wonderful to see the wolf 
nourishing and protecting the lamb and the kid. 
Who would have supposed that God would choose a 
raven to feed Elijah, the boy Samuel to bear heavy 
tidings to Eli, or the youth Jeremiah to pull down, 
destroy and build up kingdoms? God would exalt 
his Son and give him a name, which is above every 
name. He is made flesh, born in a manger, is subject 
to his parents, is tempted, mocked, spit upon, betrayed, 
denied, condemned, crucified, dead and buried, yet all 
ends in his exaltation. He, who made swaddling 
bands for the sea, was laid in swaddling clothes, that 
he might be the first-born among many brethren. By 
falling he arose above all his enemies, above all the 
creatures of God. 

Will God regenerate a world? It shall not be done 
by the ministry of angels, but to the poor, condemned, 
and dying, the riches of his mercy shall be borne in 
earthen vessels. Will God subdue the world to 
knowledge, to peace and righteousness? Humble 
men shall be his ambassadors. Will he make of his 
people a glorious church? "Not many wise men 



118 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are 
called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the 
world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the 
weak things of the world to confound the things that 
are mighty: and base things of the world, and things 
which are depised, hath God chosen, yea, and things 
which are not, to bring to nought things that are, 
that no flesh should glory in his presence." Look at 
that good man surrounded by an infuriated throng. 
Each one gnashes with his teeth and is keen for his 
prey. At the giving of the signal, stone follows stone. 
Gash after gash is made on the person of the pious 
sufferer. The blood streams from his head and body. 
Hard by him stands a small young man, drinking in 
with malignant joy the groans that fall from the mar- 
tyr's lips. Like a young tiger, hitherto fed on milk, 
but now tasting blood, he becomes furious against all 
who call on the name of Jesus. He breathes out 
threatenings and slaughter. He sheds innocent blood 
without remorse and without cessation. Who would 
believe that this persecutor was the chosen of God, 
and should yet, with unparalleled zeal and incredible 
success, preach Jesus, call sinners to repentance, and 
give joy and courage to the trembling disciples? Yet 
such was God's plan, and it was all executed. God 
is a sovereign. His counsel shall stand. He 
will do all his pleasure. He rejected all the seven 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 119 

elder sons of Jesse, and chose the little boy, David, 
who had been left with the sheep, and made him king 
of his people, and the sweet singer of Israel. "Man 
looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord 
looketh on the heart." Most of the great, useful, and 
honored men of the next generation are now poor boys, 
unnoticed by the proud, buffetting difficulties, and 
forming vigorous characters under the influence of ne- 
glect and adversity. And M. Henry says: "The 
most splendid women the world ever saw have been 
those who were most familiar with toil and care." 

VII. We often tremble to see God pursuing a 
course which, to our short sight, seems quite contrary 
to the end to be gained. This is for two purposes. 
The first is to humble us and thus prepare us for the 
reception of his great blessings. The other is to prove 
that "besides him there is no Saviour." When 
mountains and waters and cruel Egyptians hedged in 
the Israelites on every side, and it was manifest that 
"in vain was the help of man," then came the word, 
"Stand still and see the salvation of God," and the sea 
was cleft in twain, and its waves became walls. "In 
the mount it shall be seen" is for a saying in Israel. 
Even the gospel was not sent till men had racked their 
inventions, and were at their wit's end. "After that 
the world, by wisdom, knew not God, it pleased God, 
by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that be- 



120 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

lieve." Every thing in its order. When wit has 
shown its weakness, then God's word comes in, and 
speaks wisdom. When human powers fall prostrate, 
divine energy produces the desired results. 



MYSTERIES OE PROVIDENCE. 121 



CHAPTER X. 

MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE — CONTINUED. 

rilHE mysteries of providence are very vast. No 
-*- created mind can fathom them. Let us dwell on 
the subject a little further, in the order already 
observed, 

VIII. Men are so ignorant of their own hearts that 
they are incapable of determining what is best for 
them. Even regenerate men are but partially sancti- 
fied and enlightened. But God searches the heart. 
He understands our whole case. He knows what is 
most for our good. He sees our strong corruptions 
and sad deficiencies. When, in mercy to the creature, 
he comes to heal his spiritual maladies, he does not 
take counsel of human error and passion. It is right, 
it is best that he should act according to the wisdom 
which is infallible. He employs the requisite reme- 
dies. Often they are distasteful to flesh and blood. 
Sometimes they are frightful to contemplate and terrible 
to endure. Then man, in his ignorance, too often 

says, "If God loved me he would not give me so bitter 
11 F 



122 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

a cap to drink." But this is man's folly. Shall not 
the Judge of all the earth do right? Shall human 
weakness control divine power? Shall finite know- 
ledge prescribe to omniscience ? It is the height of 
wickedness for a worm of the dust to revise the de- 
cisions, or rejudge the justice of the Almighty. We 
should expect God to deal with us, in a way incom- 
prehensible, if we did but remember how low, sordid, 
and narrow are our views and plans, and how holy, 
glorious, and eternal are his purposes and designs. 
We are quite prone to magnify both the good and evil 
things of time to the disparagement of those of eternity. 
But when God crosses, afflicts, and mortifies us, he 
makes us look at the things which are unseen and 
eternal. If he racks this body with pain, it is that we 
may think of our house, not made with hands, eternal, 
and in the heavens. The shaking of this clay taber- 
nacle forces upon us the recollection that this is not 
our rest, and that we ought to be seeking a heavenly 
country. If the best man on earth had his own way 
without divine guidance, he would soon be in full 
march towards destruction. And how kind is God in 
wisely and mercifully deciding so many things for us. 
The man who fears God and loves his little daughter, 
would esteem it a greater affliction to be called on to 
say when his child should be sick, than he now finds 
it to nurse her through weeks of disease, close her 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 123 

eyes in death, and then carry her to the grave. God 
very mercifully bears the heaviest part of all our trials, 
by marking out our course for us. God is governor. 
We are servants. To us belong obedience, submission, 
acquiescence. It is not ours to guide, to decide what 
is best, to rule the world, to shape the course of events. 

IX. Another thing in providence is very remark- 
able. It is the fact that God so strangely upholds his 
people, and keeps them from falling into sin. How 
often are their feet ready to slip, and yet how com- 
monly are they upheld. The wonder is that they do 
not fall every day. But the promise even concerning 
the weak among them is that they shall be holden up, 
for God is able to make them stand. True, his grace 
is secretly supplied, and that is their support. But 
his providence often hedges them about, surrounds 
them with motives to right conduct, sends seasonable 
hints and warnings, points out the wretchedness of 
transgression, and so holds them up. " The deliver- 
ances of God's people," says Flavel, " are often as 
remote from their expectations as from the designs of 
their enemies." 

X. To some God's providence is full of mystery, 
because at times he works so slowly, and then again 
he works so rapidly. Sometimes he takes scores and 
even hundreds of years to effect a purpose. Again he 
cuts short the work in righteousness. From the day 



124 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

that Joseph is sold to the Ishmaelites till he and his 
brethren are reconciled are four and twenty long years, 
while in less than twenty-four hours, Daniel is deliv- 
ered from the lions' den and from the fearful con- 
spiracy against him. The Babylonish captivity lasts 
seventy years, and yet probably in less than seventy 
minutes, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are brought 
out of the burning fiery furnace unhurt. "My times 
are with thee, O God." God takes his own time and 
is never in a hurry, and is never slack as some men 
account these things. One day is with the Lord as a 
thousand years and a thousand years as one day. 

XI. Hardly anything in Providence is more incom- 
prehensible than the lengths to which God often per- 
mits men to go in the way of transgression before he 
brings them to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. 
Yonder goes a funeral procession. A large and re- 
spectable church is burying one of its most valued 
members. He has lately departed this life in the 
triumphs of faith. His death was preceded by months 
of painful sickness, which was borne with sweet sub- 
mission to God's will. This sickness was preceded by 
more than a dozen years of close, humble walking with 
God, as the fruit of a clear conversion. But that con- 
version was preceded by more than a dozen years of 
shocking intemperance and profaneness, during which 
promises were made, pledges given, and oaths taken 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 125 

that the cup of poison should be laid aside, bui all in 
vain. A voyage to sea was alike ineffectual. So des- 
perate was that man's state of mind that he often said, 
" If I could see the world wrapped in flames, I should 
clap my hands for joy." At length he determined on 
eelf-destruction. The deadly poison is procured. The 
phial is emptied, but the stomach refuses to retain it. 
Life is prolonged. At last he resolves to pray for 
strength to overcome his dreadful sin. His prayer is 
heard. This leads him to pray for other things. The 
result is his salvation. Nor was this a solitary case. 
Some of the converted members of the church at 
Corinth had been fornicators, or idolaters, or adult- 
erers, or effeminate, or abusers of themselves with 
mankind, or thieves, or covetous^ or drunkards, or 
revilers, or extortioners. Nor were they the only ones, 
whose state was debased before their conversion. The 
whole church at Ephesus was made up of those who 
had been " some time darkness," but by their happy 
change were now " light in the Lord." In countries 
but recently enlightened by the Gospel are found in 
the churches many, who once sacrificed their children 
to devils. 

XII. Owen mentions four things in God's provi- 
dential dealings which we are not able to grapple with. 

1. Visible confusion. The oppression of tyrants, 

wasting of nations, destruction of men and beasts, fury 

11 * 



126 JEHOVAII-JIREH. V 

and desolations, make up the things of the past and 
present ages. The greatest and choicest parts of the 
earth, in the meantime inhabited by them that know 
not God, that hate him, that fill and ieplenish the 
world with habitations of cruelty, sporting themselves 
in mischief, like the leviathan in the sea, &c. 

2. Unspeakable variety. Instance the case of the 
saints. In what unspeakable variety are they dealt 
withal! Some under persecution always, some always 
at peace, some in dungeons and prisons, some at liberty 
in their own houses; the saints of one nation under 
great oppression for many ages, of another in quiet- 
ness ; in the same places some poor, in great distress, 
and put hard to it to gain their bread all their lives; 
others abounding in all things ; some full of various 
afflictions, going softly and mourning all their days; 
others spared and scarce touched with the rod at all ; 
and yet commonly the advantage of holiness, and close 
walking with God, lying on the distressed side, &c. 

3. Sudden alterations. As in the case of Job, God 
takes a man who was blessed with choice blessings, in 
the midst of a course of obedience and close walking 
with himself, when he expected to die in his nest, and 
to see good all his days; ruins him in a moment; 
blasts his name, that he who was esteemed a choice 
saint, shall not be able to deliver himself from the 
common esteem of the hypocrite ; slays his children : 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 127 

takes away his rest, health, and every thing that is de- 
sirable to him. This amazes the soul, it knows not 
what God is doing, nor why he pleads with it in so 
much bitterness, &c. 

4. Great, deep, and abiding distresses have the same 
effects, &c. 

XIII. Nothing in providence is more inscrutable 
than the ever new discoveries and evolutions of the 
grace and wisdom of God towards his people. " He 
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for 
us all, how shall he not w T ith him also freely give us 
all things?" Rom. viii. 32. In one of his epistles 
(Titus iii. 4) Paul speaks of the philanthropy of God, 
in the English properly rendered, love toward man. 
" After that the kindness and love of God toward man 
appeared," &c. The same word occurs in the New 
Testament but in one other place, Acts xxviii. 2, 
where it is said, "The barbarous people showed us no 
little kindness." Their philanthropy consisted in 
kindling a fire and in hospitably receiving each of the 
sufferers from the rain and cold. If such philanthropy 
as this is worthy of mention in the Book of God, surely 
the philanthropy of Jehovah in rescuing sinners from 
everlasting misery by the gift of his Son should never 
be forgotten while eternity endures. The Bible tells 
us that God's love is from everlasting to everlasting, 
that it is vastly productive of glory to God and salva- 



12& JEHOVAH-JIREII. 

tion to man, that it is wholly gracious, but it never 
claims to do the subject justice. Jesus himself says, 
"God so loved the world," John iii. 16, and the be- 
loved disciple exclaims, " Behold what manner of 
love." 1 John iii. 1. But neither the Master nor the 
beloved disciple can tell us the full meaning of the 
word, so, or of the phrase, icJiat manner. The love 
of no mother is equal to the love of the Saviour, Isa. 
xlix. 15, and its developments and evolutions will be 
more and more glorious forever and ever. 

XIV. Nor is all this strange if we duly consider 
that God's providence is the acting out of his infinite 
perfections. Neither man nor angel comprehends the 
infinitude of his resources, the infallibility of his 
truth, the glory of his holiness, the power of his 
wrath, the fearfulness of his praises. He works like a 
God. His whole plans are on a scale so entirely 
above the comprehension of creatures that angels no 
less than pious men wonder and worship. 

XV. Nor can any creature ever make straight that 
Avhich is crooked, nor smooth that which is rough, nor 
light that which is dark. Who can comprehend the 
inequality of the lots of mortals? Why are some men 
poor, while others no more virtuous are rich? Why 
are some feeble, while others are strong? Why are 
some unfortunate in almost every enterprise, while 
others hardly touch anything that does not seem to 



MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 129 

enhance their earthly comfort? Job saw these things: 
"The tabernacles of robbers prospered, and they that 
forsook God are secure, into whose hand God bringeth 
abundantly. . . . Behold, he breaketh down and 
it cannot be built again : he shutteth up a man and 
there can be no opening." 

XVI. Another thing that must invest the provi- 
dence of God with perpetual mystery to mortals is the 
fact that all the mightiest agencies in the universe are 
invisible. No man hath seen God at any time. No 
man can see his face and live. "Lo, he goeth by me, 
and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive 
him not. . . . Behold, I go forward, but he is 
not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 
on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot 
behold him : he hideth himself on the right hand, that 
I cannot see him." Job ix. 11 ; xxiii. 8, 9. So like- 
wise the agency of angels has almost always been be- 
yond our perception, except by its effects. They excel 
in strength. One of them destroyed an army of one 
hundred and eighty-five thousand men in one night. 
Yet no one perceived him. In like manner, the evil 
influence of fallen angels is not observed. Thus the 
whole power of thrones, dominions and principalities 
pertaining to the invisible world eludes the grasp of 
our senses ; yet nothing to an equal extent operates on 
this world. With the Almighty "is strength and 



130 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. . . . 
He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the 
judges fools. . . . He looseth the bond of kings, 
and girdeth their loins with a girdle. . . . He 
leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the 
mighty. He removeth away the speech of the trusty, 
and taketh away the understanding of the aged. . . . 
He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth 
the strength of the mighty. . . • He taketh away 
the heart of the chief people of the earth and causeth 
them to wander in a wilderness where there is no 
way. . . . He disco vereth deep things out of 
darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of 
death." These are but a few of the just and sublime 
statements of the man of Uz, respecting the undeniable 
mysteries connected with the invisible agency of the 
Lord of Hosts. 



PRACTICAL REMARKS. 131 



CHAPTER XI. 

PRACTICAL, REMARKS ON CHAPTERS IX. AKD X. 

I. ET not the wicked infer that a change will 

-*-^ never come. Among some of the ancients, 
the emblem of justice was an old man, strong but 
lame, with a sharp sword, proceeding slowly to his 
work. "The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and 
the tongue that speaketh proud things: who have 
said, With our tongue will we prevail ; our lips are 
our own: who is lord over us? For the oppression of 
the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, 
saith the Lord ; I will set him in safety from him that 
puffeth at him." Ps. xii. 3-5. The Lord will not 
always chide his people, neither will he always let the 
wicked go unpunished. He seeth that their day is 
coming. The wonder is that they do not see it also. 

II. Let us not judge the Lord at all, but let us 
judge this, that we are very ignorant and foolish, and 
that if we would be wise, we must listen, and study, 
and learn our lessons from the infallible Teacher. If 
we will not be candid and diligent students of God's 
word and providence, we must live and die without 



1 32 JEHOVAH- JIREH. 

wisdom. Oh that every man knew that he himself is 
a fool and that Jehovah alone is God. We are indeed 
poor judges of what is best. We cannot see afar off. 
Now not a single event of Providence is finished. We 
know but in part. How can we competently decide 
upon the whole by the little fragments we possess? 
An axe by itself, and the helve by itself are alike use- 
less to the woodman ; but properly unite them, and the 
monarch of the forest soon bows his majestic head be- 
fore him who wields this little instrument. Man's 
glory is not the ultimate end of any of the divine pro- 
ceedings. All things are made for the pleasure and 
the glory of him who has called us into being and 
governs us with his almighty hand. 

III. Let us possess our souls in patience. Were 
we required to govern the world with our present 
darkness of mind, we might well despair. But as our 
duty is not to rule but to submit, what we need is a 
quiet mind to stand and adoringly view the majesty 
and government of him who worketh all things after 
the counsel of his own will. Promises do you need? 
Here they are : 

"As thy days, so shall thy strength be." 

" Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou 
dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." 

"Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give 
thee the desires of thine heart." 



PRACTICAL REMARKS. 138 

"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, 
and he shall bring it to pass." 

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." 

"I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I w T ill 
betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judg- 
ment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies; I will 
even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness." 

"I will allure her, and bring her into the wilder- 
ness, and speak comfortably unto her." 

"I will be as the dew unto Israel." "The eternal 
God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting 
arms." Lean on these and hope to the end. 

IV. Let us rejoice in hope of God's glory. It is 
coming. It is surely coming. All the combinations 
of the wicked cannot hinder it. We shall see it, only 
let us believe. We may shout the victor's song, even 
here. God shall be glorified, and we shall see him 
honored. If we are truly his, we shall be honored 
with him.* Come, thou long-expected Deliverer, 
come to be admired in all thy saints. Pious soul, 
dost thou need encouragement to hope? Thou hast 
it: "Fear not those things, which thou shalt suffer." 
"He that shall endure to the end shall be saved." 
" Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me, 
be with me that they may behold my glory." O pil- 
grim of the narrow way! Rejoice, for thy redemption 

draweth nigh. 
12 



134 JEIIOVAH-JIREH. 

V. Let us never arrogantly claim to understand 
the counsels of the Most High. " As the heavens are 
higher than the earth, so are God's ways higher than 
our ways, and God's thoughts than our thoughts." 
Clearly the finite can never comprehend the infinite. 
Yet, 

VI. Let us study and observe the ways of the Al- 
mighty. Hos. xiv. 9. Though we cannot grasp the 
heavens, yet we may look up to them, and see some 
of the wonders they reveal, and learn at least our own 
nothingness. "The fainter our light is, the more 
attent we should be in looking; the knottier the sub- 
ject, the more earnest should be our study on it." Yet 
as a jury, in a criminal cause, may receive impressions 
in the progress of the trial, but should feel bound to 
suspend judgment until the whole facts of the case are 
submitted; so nothing can warrant us in pronouncing 
upon the ways of God till we either see them finished, 
or understand their import by a revelation from 
himself. 

VII. Let us be very careful to guard both against 
presumption and despair; against presumption, in 
venturing to make our calculations on things not 
revealed; against despair, into which we may be led 
by supposing that we already see the end from the be- 
gining. The darkest hour is just before day. 

VIII. Meditation on God's providence "should 



PRACTICAL REMARKS. 135- 

prevent our taking offence, or being discontented at any 
events rising up before us ; for to be displeased at that, 
which a superior wisdom, unsearchable to us, doth 
order, is to be displeased at we know not what, or 
why, which is childish weakness; to fret and wail at 
that which, for all we can see, proceedeth from good 
intention, and tendeth to good issue, is pitiful fro- 
wardness." 

IX. Let us embrace that mystery of mysteries, the 
Cross of Christ. He that will reject all mysteries 
must reject salvation. Let us not cavil, but believe. 
Wisely did Sir Humphrey Davy say: "If I would 
choose what would be most delightful, and I believe 
most useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious be- 
lief to every other blessing." And the great Teacher, 
who shall also be our final judge, said: "Whosoever 
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child 
shall in no wise enter therein." Will you humbly 
believe the Gospel? Will you renounce your self- 
will, your self-sufficiency and your self-righteousness? 
Well does Mr. Locke say: "Pride of opinion and ar- 
rogance of spirit are entirely opposed to the humility 
of true science." Surely then they are opposed to 
true religion, which has for its basis the sublimest of 
all knowledge. Will you bow down your haughty 
spirit and be saved from wrath by the blood and righ- 
teousness of the humblest, meekest and most mys- 



136 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

terious sufferer the world ever saw? Oh that you 
would now be wise! You have but one lifetime, and 
that will soon be gone. Time flies — Heaven invites — 
Jesus calls — the Spirit strives — conscience warns — 
angels wait for your conversion — devils seek your 
ruin — hell threatens — death approaches — eternity is at 
the door — the judgment is coming. O humble your- 
self and believe the Gospel. — Believe it Now, Now, 
NOW. 

" A point of time, a moment's space, 
Removes you to yon heavenly place, 
Or shuts you up in hell." 

He who rejects the mystery of providence must 
ever be in perplexity. But he, who rejects the mys« 
tery of the cross, must lie down in eternal sorrow. 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 137 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SPECIAL KINDNESS OF PROVIDENCE TOWARDS 
GOOD MEN. 

d^i OD is unrighteous to none ; yea, he is good to 
^-^ all men. But he shows distinguishing kindness 
to his saints. His sun shines upon the just and upon 
the unjust; and he sends rain and fruitful seasons on 
the good and the unthankful. Yet the secret of the 
Lord is with them that fear him. He governs the 
incorrigibly wicked, though not in covenant love. 
Their preservations are reservations. 2 Pet. ii. 9-17. 
But the life of the righteous is by the Lord mercifully 
controlled. It is ordered in a manner as kind as it is 
wise. It is so directed that he and all men shall at 
last see and say that God is glorified and the eternal 
good of the believer promoted. We should expect no 
less. Surely God will not treat friends and foes alike. 
He never confounds moral distinctions. He is the 
preserver of all men, "especially of them that believe." 
" The Lord loveth the righteous . . . but the way of 
the wicked he turneth upside down." Ps. clxvi. 8, 9. 

12* 



138 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

"All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto 
such as keep his covenant and his testimonies." Ps. 
xxv. 10. 

It does not impair the doctrine of a kind and special 
providence towards the righteous that they are often 
involved in the same untoward events with the wicked. 
This often occurs, as inspired writers admit. "All 
things come alike to all : there is one event to the 
righteous and to the wicked ; to the good and to the 
clean, and to the unclean ; to him, that sacrificeth, and 
to him that sacrificeth not." Eccles. ix. 2. A pious 
wife shares with her wicked husband the poverty and 
misery which his vices bring on them like an armed 
man. An invading army overwhelms saints and sin- 
ners with evils which are common to all. The event 
is the same ; but the design, uses and effects are quite 
different. The purpose of God in afflicting his real 
people is to make them more useful, more humble, and 
in the end more glorious. His design in afflicting 
incorrigible foes is to punish them for their sins, show 
his wrath, and make them examples of his terrible 
justice, as they have been the thankless receivers of 
countless mercies. So also prosperity awakens the 
gratitude and refines the feelings of the pious man, but 
hardens the heart of his wicked neighbor. Thus the 
prosperity of fools destroys them. 

Nor is it a valid objection to the doctrine of a special 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 139 

kind providence over good men that they are often 
more afflicted than the wicked. For first, though 
" many are the afflictions of the righteous, yet the Lord 
delivereth him out of them all." They do not perish 
in their affliction. Secondly, When good men are 
" chastened of the Lord, it is that they may not be 
condemned with the world." Thirdly, A wise father 
gives far higher proof of strong and continued love to 
his child by correcting him than by indulging him, or 
giving him over to his own follies. Our Father 
" scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Fourthly, 
All the godly do confess that to them, even in this 
life, nothing is more pleasant than the effects of sancti- 
fied afflictions ; while it is to be lamented that they 
" who lie soft and warm in a rich estate, seldom care to 
heat themselves at the altar." u No creature can be a 
substitute for God, but" God can be a substitute for 
every creature." "When we see the peaceable fruits 
of righteousness, as they hang from the bough of chas- 
tisement, we thank God that he ever planted that 
bitter root in our garden." Fifthly, By the sadness 
of the countenance the heart is made better. " Those 
the Lord means to make the most resplendent, he hath 
oftenest his tools upon." Sixthly, If we suffer with 
him, we shall also reign with him, and all our sorrows 
shall be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at the 
appearing of Jesus Christ. So that nothing is more 



140 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

to the advancement of the solid good of the saints in 
time and eternity than those things which grieve them 
most. On the other hand the triumph of the wicked 
is short, their mirth is vain, and it will soon be fol- 
lowed by destruction — a destruction worse than anni- 
hilation. Job xx. 5 ; Ecc. vii. 6 ; Ps. xxxvii. 35-37 ; 
2 Thess. i. 9. Even in this world the judgments, 
which overtake the wicked are very dreadful. Gen. iv. 
13; 1 Sam. xxxi. 4; 2 Chron. xxvi. 19, 20; Acts i. 
18 ; xii. 23. 

But we should be very careful not to misinterpret 
the leadings of Providence. No doubt Lot thought 
that God's providence pointed him to Sodom ; but he 
was sadly mistaken. It was the well watered land of 
the plain that misled him. David knew that God's 
putting Saul into his power was no opening for murder. 

It should be stated, however, that it is not the mere 
event, but the act of Providence explained by the 
word of God, which is so beneficial to Christians. 
Scripture and Providence, like the cherubim over the 
mercy seat, look toward each other and reflect light 
upon each other. " The word without Providence is 
sublime writing," but it is a dead letter ; with Provi- 
dence it is life and spirit. 

Providence without the word is a dark enigma. 
None can solve it. The best commentary on Provi- 
dence is the Bible. The best commentary on the 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 141 

Bible is Providence. The events of a good man's life 
are to hirn the fulfillings of the Scriptures. In a 
thousand ways they teach him the true sense of pro- 
mises and threatenings, predictions and narratives, 
precepts and doctrines. They mightily confirm his 
belief of the truth. 

And let us not forget that neither the word nor the 
Providence of God, without the influences of divine 
grace on the heart have a sanctifying power over even 
good men. The most striking events and the most 
precious doctrines will not profit without the promised 
aid of the Holy Ghost. He can bless any truth or 
any event to our growth in grace, our comfort and our 
eternal glory. He is the sanctifier. 

Of course, all the benefit derived from the dealings 
of God with his people is gracious. Whatever a saint 
is, he is by the grace of God, not by nature. No man 
deplores his own short-comings more than he. He 
abhors himself; he glories in the Cross of Christ ; he 
is clothed with humility; he is full of kindness; he 
seeks a heavenly country; his affections are set on 
things above. 

To such a man the providence of God is special and 
kind. Who can doubt it ? The Bible often declares 
it. " The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy 
coming in from this time forth, and even forever more. 
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that 



142 JEHOVAH- JIREH . 

keepeth thee will not slumber." Ps. exxi. 7, 8. "He 
will keep the feet of his saints." 1 Sam. ii. 9. Ac- 
cordingly inspired men have taught us to pray, " Hold 
up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not," 
Ps. xvii. 5. " Order my steps in thy word ; and let 
not any iniquity have dominion over me." Ps. cxix. 
133. The Scripture fully warrants the pious in bring- 
ing all their troubles and sorrows before the Lord. 
They ask and obtain divine guidance and divine sup- 
port in whatever concerns them. Thus they univer- 
sally believe with the saints of all ages. Very joyfully 
therefore do they cast their care upon the Lord, know- 
ing that he careth for them. 

Some things in God's providence towards his people 
are truly surprising. None but the wilfully blind can 
fail to see them. None but the desperately hardened 
can fail to be affected by them. Let us notice a few 
of them. 

I. The interpositions of Providence for his people 
are very seasonable. They come at the very nick of 
time. Just as Abram is about to make his son a sac- 
rifice, behold a ram caught in the thicket. Just as 
Hagar lays down her son to die, God leads her to dis- 
cover a well of water to save his life. Just as Saul is 
ready to seize David, and there seems to be no escape 
to the hunted partridge, that guilty persecutor is called 
home by an invasion of the Philistines* The very 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 143 

night fixed by a felon to murder a pious widow in a 
retired neighborhood, and rob her house, God sends a 
stranger to lodge there and protect her. The very day 
of his trial for felony, God brings a stranger from a 
distance to prove the perfect innocence of William 
Tennent. Many times in the life of every child of 
God does he receive the very mercy he needs at a time, 
when longer delay would be fatal to him. Perhaps 
for days or weeks he would have fainted unless he 
had believed that he should see the goodness of God. 
At last the crisis comes, and his faith must now fail or 
triumph. To sense all is dark. To mere natural 
reason nothing is clear. Yet he has hope toward 
God. Nor is he disappointed. Enlargement and de- 
liverance came just in time to show that none ever 
trusted in God and was disappointed. A seasonable 
mercy is a double mercy. The man in health and 
without weariness passes by the cooling fountain and 
cares not for it; but the poor wounded soldier would 
give his last eagle for one draught of the refreshing 
beverage which nature has provided. It is a time of 
persecution. Malice and rage possess the wicked. A 
city is besieged. The food is exhausted. God's people 
begin to suffer. To go forth is death by the sword. 
To remain is death by famine. The city is girt by the 
sea on one side, and by the merciless foe on all other 
sides. What shall God's people do? If they could 



144 JEHOVAH-JIREH 

hold out a month, succor would come. But in less 
than thirty days, they will perish of hunger. Just 
then an unheard of thing occurs. A shoal of fishes 
come into that harbor, and all are supplied. The perse- 
cutors lose their prey and their hopes. The city is 
safe. To God give all the people praise. 

II. God's interpositions in Providence are just such 
as the Scriptures have led his people to expect. His 
word pronounces a blessing on dutiful children. A 
child gives up all the means of present personal ad- 
vancement, perhaps even of comfort, to serve a parent; 
yet who, in the end, was thereby a loser even in this 
world? On the other hand, who can find one, who 
has failed to show piety at home, and whose life has 
not been rendered unhappy, possibly despicable by 
such conduct? Again, never did even a bad man 
show kindness to a saint of God, but he had his re- 
ward. Not only the prophecies, but all the principles 
of Scripture are wonderfully carried out by the events 
occurring around us every day, especially in relation 
to good men. 

III. There is an intimate connection between the 
providence of God and the prayers of good men. 
Where is the experienced saint who has not had an- 
swers to prayer so striking and so merciful as greatly 
to confirm his faith in the promises? And no marvel. 
For "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the 



SPECIAL TROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 145 

whole earth, to show himself strong in behalf of them 
whose heart is perfect towards him." When lived 
there a child of God on the earth, who did not have 
occasion to record what David wrote of himself? 
"This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and 
saved him out of all his troubles." The time would 
fail to tell of Jacob, and Moses, and Joshua, and Sam- 
son, and Jeremiah, and scores of others, whose prayers 
secured wonderful acts of providence in their behalf. 
Nor are prayer and providences separated now. 
Whichever way the humble cries of good men travel, 
thither travel also the providences of God. "Let 
Israel hope in the Lord forever and ever." 

Alexander Pedan, a Scotch Covenanter, with some 
others, had been at one time pursued, both by horse 
and foot, for a considerable way. At last, getting 
some little height between them and their pursuers, he 
stood still and said: "Let us pray here, for if the Lord 
hear not our prayer and save us, we are all dead 
men." 

He then prayed, saying, "O Lord, this is the hour 

and the power of thine enemies; they may not be idle. 

But hast thou no other work for them than to send 

them after us? Send them after them to whom thou 

wilt give strength to flee, for our strength is gone. 

Twine them about the hill, O Lord, and cast the lap 

of thy cloak over poor old Saunders, and these puir 
13 G 



146 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

things, and save us this one time, and we will keep it 
in remembrance, and tell to the commendation of thy 
goodness, thy pity and compassion, what thou didst 
for us at sic a time." 

And in this he was heard, for a cloud of mist im- 
mediately intervened between them and their persecu- 
tors; and in the mean time orders came to go in quest 
of James Renwick, and a great company with him. 
See 2 Chron. xviii. 31. 

IV. Nor is God slack in saving his people even if 
in doing it, many wicked perish. What terrible 
monuments of his displeasure against his people's ene- 
mies did he make of Cain, and Pharaoh, and Haman, 
and Herod, yea, of Babylon, and Sodom and Go- 
morrah, and the old world! Nor has he ceased to do 
like things now. Show me a man of this century, 
who has spent his breath in curses on God's people, 
and I will show you one whose history even in this 
world has commonly marked him out as one forsaken, 
terribly forsaken of God! It is still true that "he 
shall have judgment without mercy, who hath showed 
no mercy." It is still true that "bloody and deceit- 
ful men shall not live out half their days." When their 
malice is turned against the righteous, their history is 
brief, their triumph short, and their doom terrible. 
As this world is not the scene of full retribution, all 
we may expect here is not .ample justice, but mere to- 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 147 

kens of what God can and will do, when nis hand 
lays hold on vengeance. Compare 2 Chron. xviii. 
31-34. 

V. In some cases we are able to trace a long series 
of causes and events all conspiring to the same result. 
The wise men of the East are led to bring from a great 
distance the most costly presents — articles easily trans- 
ported — and lay them at the feet of the infant Saviour, 
that he and Joseph and Mary in their flight to Egypt 
might have the means of subsistence. Even some- 
times to the vision of mortals, perhaps always in the 
sight of God, providences are long chains with many 
links in them. If one link were wanting, the event 
would fail. But it is God's chain and God's plan. 
The thing is fixed. The issue is not doubtful. 

VI. So perfect is God's defence of his people that 
when appearances all look as if their destruction was 
imminent, they are still safe. They have fears within 
and fightings without. They have the world, the 
flesh and the devil leagued against them. Perhaps 
there is not a government on earth which has not 
some anti-christian legislation, that might become a 
trap and a snare to a good man's conscience. The 
thousandth part of the war waged, or the conspiracies 
formed, and of the blood and treasure expended against 
Christ's cause, would have rooted out from the earth 
any institution ever established among men, other than 



v 
148 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

the kingdom of Christ. Still it lives, yea, it flourishes. 
How is this ? The sole answer is, That in Providence, 
God fulfils his promises : " No weapon formed against 
thee shall prosper," Isa. liv. 17; and, "Though I 
make a full end of all nations, yet will I not make a 
full end of thee : but I will correct thee in measure." 
Jer. xxx. 11. Beziers is besieged. The Protestant 
cause depends on its safety. The besieged are secure. 
The bell begins to ring at midnight. Every man is 
at his post just in time to repel the assault with dismay 
to the foe. Who rang that alarm bell ? Not some 
faithful sentinel, but a drunken man in a frolic, not 
knowing what he was doing. Surely God's hand was 
strikingly in this matter. 

Paris is drenched in Protestant gore. For three 
days and nights the blood-hounds of regal and papal 
persecution devour the flock of Christ. His people, 
who are slain, are gathered home to the Redeemer's 
bosom. But some of them God would still keep alive 
for important purposes. One man takes refuge in an 
oven. His pursuers search diligently for him. They 
are within a yard of him, but they find him not. 
Why do they not look into the oven? Just as he 
entered it, God sent a spider quickly to weave a thick 
web over its mouth ; he then sent a flaw of wind to 
fill the web with dust ; and so the bloody men said, 
Our victim is not here. Thus God saved the life of 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. l49 

Du Moulin (the Molinseus of Church History.) 
Must he not have been an atheist if he could have 
denied God's hand in this affair ? A voyage of four 
thousand miles has been performed, doubling Cape 
Horn, and that in a small boat. Was not God's hand 
visible here? It is not known that any of these 
voyagers, who had just escaped butchery by mutineers, 
were pious men ; but the last day w T ill probably show 
that they were saved in answer to the prayers of some 
child of God ; and they must have been brutish not to 
have said to their friends or to each other as they made 
the shore, Here is the finger of God. 

A thief, who had a few moments before stolen a 
bottle <rf warm milk hears a noise, and drops his bottle 
in the forest. By this means a persecuted minister and 
his wife, as they sit sadly down on a rock and find it, 
are able to give food to their little child, ready to die 
for want of nourishment. Marvellous are thy works, 
Lord God Almighty. 

VII. God often saves his people by leading them 
to go where they never intended to go, and where they 
are sorry to find they have gone, and to do what they 
never desired to do. The life of Augustine in the 5th 
century, the life of Dr. John Rodgers of the 18th cen- 
tury, and the life of Rev. William Calhoun of the 19th 
century were all preserved from destruction by deadly 
enemies, who hated their doctrine, and lay in wait to 

13* 



150 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

put them to death on roads, which these servants of 
God intended to travel, but from which they unac- 
countably wandered. " Living and dying do not go 
by probabilities." God has one end; man another. 
Joseph had no design of becoming prime minister of 
Egypt, temporal saviour of the world, and so a type 
of the great Redeemer, when he told his dreams to his 
brethren, or when he went to Shechem. Yet had he 
failed to do either, he had not stood in his lot and ful- 
filled his course. God's ways are unsearchable and his 
judgments past finding out. 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 151 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE SPECIAL, KINDNESS OF PROVIDENCE TOWARDS 
GOOD MEN — CONTINUED. 

FIlHE lives of good men do much in furnishing the 
-*- history of redemption. Let us pursue the subject. 
VIII. Because God is omnipotent and controls all 
causes, he can save as well without miracle as with it. 
For three successive days does a copious shower put 
out the fire kindled by savages to burn alive a prisoner 
who was a child of prayer. Yet the clouds which 
dropped down these rains may have arisen entirely 
under the influence of natural causes. Indeed preser- 
vation and other blessings secured to God's people in 
his ordinary providence are no less safe and certain, 
and no less fit to be matters of grateful meditation 
than if secured by suspending the laws of nature. To 
a considerate mind they are perhaps even more so. 
By an act of volition God could create and send down 
to each man's door the baked loaves from heaven. 
Instead of that he waters the earth so that it can be 
plowed and oroken to pieces. He then directs men to 



152 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

sow the wheat, and he sends dew and showers to make 
it sprout and grow. He then alternately sends the 
frost and the sun. Perhaps he covers it with a thick, 
moist mantle of snow. In the spring he sends the 
melting sun, and plentiful showers. He keeps away 
noisome insects, and destructive vegetable diseases, 
and brings the grain to maturity. It is cut ; it is dried 
by the heat he sends ; it soon appears in baked loaves 
on the table. The devout husbandman sees God's 
hand in all the process. When Merlin, the Chaplain 
of Admiral Coligny, found his distinguished patron 
murdered on the melancholy St. Bartholomew's day, 
he concealed himself in a hay-loft. In the Acts of the 
next Synod, over which he presided, it is recorded 
that though many died of hunger, he was supported 
by a hen regularly laying an egg near his place of 
refuge. A similar record is made of another French 
minister, M. de Luce, and a Swabian minister, John 
Breng, both of whom were kept alive in the same way. 
To a thoughtful mind ordinary providence is more 
marvellous than a miracle. The latter is but one act 
of God, while the former is a series of divine acts 
working slowly but most surely. A count is suspected 
of treason. He is arrested and imprisoned. In the 
yard to his dungeon between the paving stones springs 
up a little flower. He watches it. He waters it. He 
cares for it. It grows. He writes the history of its 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 153 

developement and growth. This narrative is God's 
appointed means of effecting his release. See a little 
book called Picciola. 

IX. God's providence towards his people dates not 
at the time of their being called to a knowledge of 
himself, but long before. In the formation of their 
bodies, what goodness appears. No man has ever 
been able to suggest how the form or figure of the hu- 
man frame could be improved. In this indeed the 
wicked share the same bounty of God. In their early 
infancy how amazing was God's care over them. 
Think too of the early and deep impressions which 
God often makes on the minds and hearts of his 
chosen, even years before their conversion. (In a soli- 
tary wood among huge rocks, or hoary mountains, or 
by some gentle stream, or noble river, or vast expanse 
of waters, what conceptions of God has many a child 
had! In an escape from danger, what a sense of God's 
goodness has stolen over the hearts of his people, even 
before their conversion.] John Brown of Haddington 
tells us of his deep religious impressions at a sacra- 
mental meeting, when he was under ten years of age. 
The late Dr. Archibald Alexander, when only four 
years and a half old, was greatly interested in a ser- 
mon on 1 Cor. xvi. 22. Even where such impres- 
sions do not end in a speedy conversion, they are often 
very salutary in preserving the young from the worst 



154 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

forms of evil. Nor is anything more wonderful than 
the means God uses for the conversion of his people. 
A sermon, in which the preacher had no knowledge 
and no design respecting the spiritual good of any par- 
ticular person, a sermon by a weak man addressed to 
those who had often heard much better discourses on 
the same topics, a text of Scripture learned twenty 
years before, a little portion of truth found on a piece 
of wrapping-paper, a sudden death of some wicked 
man, the death of some good man, a good book, a kind 
word, a look of tenderness, the consistent piety of a 
pious wife, husband or friend, and even the profane- 
ness of wicked men have been the means of bringing 
sinners to repentance. Many a man has been led to 
the Saviour by truths, which the preacher did not in- 
tend to utter when he began his discourse. Augus- 
tine tells us of a celebrated Manachee who was thus 
converted under the labors of the bishop of Hippo. 
Paul and Silas were not the only prisoners who were 
honored of God as the means of converting their har- 
dened jailors. Had the persecution not arisen at 
Jerusalem, Philip would not have fallen in with the 
Ethiopian returning to his own country and reading 
Isaiah. So that great man might have died in igno- 
rance of the true meaning of the prophet. Many a 
man has gone for no good end to hear a sermon, and 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 155 

before the discourse was ended has forgotten what he 
came for and has begun to cry for mercy. 

X. God's providence in raising up good ministers 
of various gifts to edify his church is truly striking. 
It is the time of the American Revolution. A com- 
pany is drilling and firing by platoons. In the ranks 
is a malicious man, who wishes to have his spite on a 
particular family. He loads his piece so heavily that 
he knows firing it off will burst the barrel of his gun. 
Just before firing he calls a lad in the crowd to take his 
place. The noble, impulsive boy, suspecting no harm, 
consents, fires the gun, and his left hand is shivered. 
Amputation is necessary. This cruel act gives a new 
direction to his whole life. His parents send him to 
a classical school taught by a pious man. The youth 
learns well, in due time becomes a Christian, is finally 
ordained to the Gospel ministry, bears the name of the 
preacher with the silver fist and the silver voice, with 
great power addresses thousands in the open air, and 
dies greatly lamented leaving a noble posterity behind 
him. Such was the history of Drury Lacy. 

Some boys are pursuing a rabbit. It takes refuge 
in a hollow log. While one boy is attempting to cut 
it out, another puts in his arm, trying to reach his 
prey. The axe cripples his hand for life. He is edu- 
cated, becomes a herald of salvation and leaves a pre- 
cious memory in all the land. When Patrick Henry 



156 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

heard him discourse on the creation, he said it seemed 
to him as if that man could almost make a world. His 
name was James Waddell, who in the blindness of his 
latter years is so justly described by William Wirt in 
"The British Spy." 

Many a time by the feebleness of their bodies pa- 
rental counsels respecting the temporal conduct of 
their children are defeated, and parental pity at last 
consents to their commencing studies which may give 
them the learning so useful to preachers of the Gospel. 
In due time God calls them to a knowledge of him- 
self and of his Son. Then by his Spirit he calls them 
to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. To others, 
whom God designs for great hardships in the ministry, 
he gives great vigor of constitution, so that they can 
bear almost any amount of labor and weariness. How 
marvellous also is God's providence in the mental and 
social character naturally possessed by his people, so 
as to fit them to act their several parts in life. In il- 
lustration look at the ministers of Christ. One is 
timid, and God makes him especially useful to the 
diffident in encouraging them, and to the self-confident 
in awakening salutary fears. Another is bold, and he 
alarms the guilty and encourages the wavering. One 
is full of love and so wins the coy and melts the 
hardened. Another is borne down by an awful sense 
of the danger of the wicked, and so he cries aloud and 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 157 

spares not. One is a son of thunder. Another is a 
son of consolation. One excels in logic, another in 
rhetoric. One is best at explaining the doctrines, an- 
other is excellent at exhortation. One does most good 
by his pen, another by private conversation^ and an- 
other in the pulpit. Yet all these men are giving ex- 
pression to their respective natural and social dispo- 
sitions, now sanctified by divine grace, and turned to 
a holy work. Like acts of providence may be noticed 
in the variety of character displayed by all his people. 
XI. When means have been blessed to the conver- 
sion of his people, how strange the providences of God 
which lead to their growth in grace ! They are ready 
to lean on one minister ; and God takes him away and 
sends another. They think affliction would do them 
good, and God makes his mercies overflow. Or they 
think prosperity best for them, and God crosses all 
their plans and spoils their pleasant things. They are 
self-confident and fear not falling into sin, and soon a 
sad lapse fills their hearts with anguish. They are 
much afraid of bringing dishonor on their profession, 
and their fears are blessed to their preservation from 
sin. A * Christian poet, who has often edified the 
church of God, has well described this matter, when 
he says : 

" I asked the Lord, that I might grow 
In faith, and love and every grace; 
14 



158 JEHOVAH- JIREH. 

Might more of his salvation know, 
And seek more earnestly his face. 

"'Twas He who taught me thus to pray, 
And He, I trust has answered prayer; 
But it has been in such a way 
As almost drove me to despair. 

u I hoped that in some favo'red hour, 
At once he'd answer my request; 
And by His love's constraining power, 
Subdue my sins and give me rest. 

" Instead of this He made me feel 
The hidden evils of my heart, 
And let the angry powers of hell 
Assault my soul in every part. 

"Yea, more; with His own hand He seemed 
Intent to aggravate my wo ; 
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, 
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low. 

" ' Lord, why is this V I trembling cried, 
' Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death V 
* 'Tis in this way/ the Lord replied, 
' I answer prayer for grace and faith.' 

" ' These inward trials I employ 

From self and pride to set thee free, 
And break thy schemes of earthly joy, 
That thou may'st seek thy all in me.' " 

XII. Go among God's people and learn how goodiy 
in many ways their lot has been. What good parents 
most of them have had. How wonderfully God has 
led them in many important steps in life. How 



SPECIAL PROVIDENCE OVER SAINTS. 159 

pleasant have been their friends and their children. 
Even the little ones, whom Jesus has early called tc 
himself, seem still to warm and nestle in the bosom of 
parental love. How many good books they have had 
to read. What kind and skillful physicians have 
attended them in sickness. When disease has come 
upon them, what good places they have had to be sick 
in. How infrequent and short their bodily infirmities 
commonly are. How seldom have they suffered for 
the want of suitable food, or clothing, or shelter, or 
any necessary thing. How marked the hand of God 
in ordering the general tenor of their lives. Often 
have their feet well nigh slipped, but God has held 
them up. They have been in the midst of almost all 
evil, but it has not been allowed to sweep them away. 
How often has God " hedged up their way with thorns, 
and made a wall that they could not find their paths." 
Hos. ii. 6. Often they could not perform their enter- 
prises, which would have proved their ruin. Job v. 
12. The unseen dangers from men and devils, from 
friends and foes, from darkness and pestilence sur- 
rounding us, are far more numerous than those which 
are visible. Could we have seen them all as God saw 
them, our lives would probably have been full of 
misery. How kind his providence in giving us a 
heart and temper to enjoy life and its mercies. 

XIII. Toward his people God's providence is ex- 



160 0EHOVAH-JIREH. 

ceedingly rich in spiritual blessings. It embraces a 
plan reaching from eternity to eternity. It is set forth 
in a covenant ordered in all things and sure, an ever- 
lasting covenant, having the Lord Jesus Christ for a 
Surety and Mediator. God's loving-kindness laid the 
foundation of the whole scheme of redemption. It 
shall lay the top-stone in glory. It orders everything 
aright forever. Thus far the history of redemption 
has no parallel. It is God's chief work, the w r onder 
of angels, the joy of saints. The whole subject seems 
to abash the faculties of all right-minded creatures. 
The sea of Jehovah's compassion and wisdom has 
never been fathomed by men or angels. Under the 
conduct of providence it will be widening its shures 
and deepening its abysses forever. 



PRACTICAL REMARKS. 161 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PRACTICAL REMARKS ON CHAPTERS XII. AND XIII. 



I. %^THAT a theme for humble, devout and joy- 
* * ous meditation have we in this doctrine of 
providence ! The pious Flavel says : " It will doubt- 
less be a part of our entertainment in heaven to view 
with transporting delight how the designs and methods 
were laid to bring us hither : and what will be a part 
of our blessedness in heaven may be well allowed to 
have a prime ingrediency into our heaven upon earth. 
To search for pleasure among the due observations of 
Providence is to search for water in the ocean." Vol. 
4, p. 340. In a like strain the amiable John Howe 
says : " When the records of eternity shall be exposed 
to view, all the counsels and results of the profound 
wisdom looked into : how wall it transport, when it 
shall be discovered ! Lo, thus were the designs laid ; 
here were the apt junctures and admirable dependen- 
cies of things, which, when acted upon the stage of 
time, seemed so perplexed and intricate." Let God's 
"loving-kindness" be continually before your eyes. 

14* 



162 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

Think on his judgments. " He, that will observe the 
wonderful providences of God, shall have wonderful 
providences of God to observe." " Whoso is wise, and 
will observe these things, even they shall understand 
the loving-kindness of the Lord." Charnock says: 
" It is a part of atheism not to think the acts of God 
in the world worth our serious thoughts. . . . God is 
highly angry with those that mind him not ; ' Because 
they regard not the operation of his hands, he shall 
destroy them, and not build them up?'" Ps. xxviii.5. 
It is a divine art to view the hand of God in every- 
thing. It is an ennobling employment to meditate on 
all the wonders he has wrought. " The works of the 
Lord are great, sought out of all them that have plea- 
sure therein." Ps. cxi. 2. That was a good resolution 
of Asaph : " I will remember the works of the Lord ; 
* surely I will remember thy wonders of old: I will 
meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings." 
Ps. lxxvii. 11, 12. 

II. There is excellent wisdom in our Saviour's say- 
ing, "What I do thou knowest not now; but hereafter 
thou shalt know it." In this world nothing in provi- 
dence is fully finished. Judge artists or artizans by 
appearances when their work is but half done, and not 
one of them could stand so unfair a test. Peter was 
greatly opposed to Christ's dying at all. The disciples 
were overwhelmed when he did die. But out of his 



PRACTICAL ] 1EMARKS. 163 

death sprang the life of the world. There would have 
been no gospel to believe or to preach, had Jesus not 
died. God's "way is in the sea, and his path in the 
great waters, and his footsteps are not known." Ps. 
Ixxvii. 19. A carpenter's rule is too short to measure 
the heavens with. The waters of the sea can never be 
comprehended in a bottle. Neither can we ever fully 
know any act of providence as God knows it. But to 
judge of an event before the final issue is great folly. 
It is also sin. It is both arrogant and presumptuous. 
It also brings much misery with it. Who is more 
wretched than the man, who sees nothing but desolat- 
ing storms in every cloud, nothing but disaster in every 
undertaking, nothing but sorrow in the very means 
used for his joy, nothing but overthrow in the steps 
which lead- to his exaltation? Oh for a stronger faith. 
Oh for more patience. Could we but calmly wait and 
let the God of all the earth do as he pleases, all would 
be well. We are so wrapped up in selfishness that we 
egregiously over-estimate the importance of our own 
affairs. A splendid steamer is swiftly passing up the 
Mississippi. She has more than five hundred passen- 
gers, pressing home to soothe sorrow, or scatter joy, to 
give life to commerce, and to carry messages of go- 
vernment. Vast interests depend on her safety and 
her speed. A little boy darts into the saloon, crying 
for the captain. At length he finds him, and says, 



164 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

"O captain, stop the boat, do stop the boat." "Why 
so, my son?" said the urbane officer. The boy replied, 
"I have dropped my orange overboard, do stop the 
boat." He was told it could not be done. His soli- 
citude settled into sadness, which left him only after 
sleep. Think of that boy and his orange. There was 
some proportion between the value of that orange and 
the other interests involved, yet it was exceedingly 
small. But there is no proportion between our com- 
fort for a day and the glory of God to eternity, or be- 
tween our afflictions here and the glory that shall be 
revealed in us hereafter. "Be patient, brethren, unto 
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." We know not 
what is best for us. Foolish children eat green apples, 
but prudent people first let them mature. Let us 
trust God joyfully. Ps. xxvii. 5. 

III. How entirely do just views of God's word aud 
providence change the aspects of every thing. He, who 
has any right views, would rather be with Shadrach, 
Meshach and Abednego in the furnace, or with Daniel 
in the lions' den than with Nebuchadnezzar on the 
throne. Paul bound with a chain was far more to be 
envied than Nero wearing the imperial purple. Paul 
and Silas were far from being the most unhappy men 
in Philippi the night their feet were in the stocks. 
There are two sides to every providence, as there were 
to the pillar of cloud and of fire. The bright side is 



PRACTICAL REMARKS. 165 

towards the children of God. It ever will be so. God 
has ordained it. He will make good all his promises. 
"Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the 
upright." Therefore, ye heroes of the cross, gird on 
your armor. Fight the good fight of faith. Never 
yield to fear. Endure hardness. Live to please him 
who has called you to be soldiers. Jesus reigns. 
Hear him proclaiming: "All power in heaven and 
earth is given unto me." He is King of kings. He 
rules in the kingdoms of men. He is God in Zion. 
He loves the church rn^re than you do. He died for 
it. He loves his peopie as the apple of his eye. No- 
thing shall harm those who are the followers of that 
which is good. O shout and give thanks. Robert 
Southwell, awaiting martyrdom in prison, wrote to 
his friend: "We have sung the canticles of the Lord 
in a strange land, and in this desert we have sucked 
honey from the rock, and oil from the hard flint." 
Learn this heavenly art. 

IV. Sinners, will not you give your hearts to God, 
and secure the blessings of his kindness, the care of 
his special providence? Do you not need a Father in 
heaven? Do you not wish for a shield and buckler and 
horn of salvation? Persisting in sin and folly, the 
stars will fight against you in their courses^ Yielding 
to the claims of divine love and authority all nature 
will at Jehovah's bidding fight for you. Will you 



166 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

bow your neck? Will you take Christ's yoke upon 
you? Will you be saved? 

V. The right observance of providence is a great 
duty. The particulars of this duty are well stated by 
Boston: 1. We should watch for them till they come. 
Heb. ii. 1-3; Ps. cxxx. 1, 5, 6; Lam. iii. 49, 50. 
2. We should take heed to them, and mark them 
when they come. Isa. xxv. 9; Ezek. i. 15; Zech. vi. 1 ; 
Luke xix. 44. 3. We should seriously review them, 
ponder and narrowly consider them. Ps. cxi. 2; Ezek. 
x. 13; Ps. lxxiii. 16; Job x. 2; Ps. Ixxvii. 6. 4. We 
should lay them up, and keep them in record. Luke i. 
66; 1 Sam. xvii. 37; Ps. xxxvii. 25. 5. We should 
observe them for practical purposes, that they may 
have a sanctifying power over our hearts and lives. 
Ps. lxiv. 7, 9; Deut. xxix. 2, 3, 4; 2 Kings vi. 33; 
Ecc. vii. 14. 



job's trials and mercies. 167 



CHAPTER XV. 

ALTERNATE LIGHT AND DARKNESS IN PROVIDENCE, 
ILLUSTRATED IN THE CASE OF THE GREAT MAN 
• OF UZ. 

nnHE book of Job is the oldest and the best epic 
-*- poem in the world. The persons prominently be- 
fore us are Jehovah, Satan, Job, Job's wife, his three 
friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, and that remark- 
able person, Elihu. Much of the book is a dis- 
cussion of the principles, on which the speakers sup- 
pose God's providence to be conducted. 

Some have surmised that Job was a fictitious charac- 
ter; but this is surely a mistake. The prophet Ezekiel 
clearly proves that he was a historic personage — as 
much so as Noah or Daniel. Ezek. xiv. 14, 20. He 
was a man, and a very good man. 

The course of providence towards him is full of in- 
struction. In his life we find lessons of much value. 
Instruction by example clearly points out the duty to 
be performed, shows that it is practicable, and 
awakens in the virtuous the desire of imitation. 



168 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

Among mere men we seldom find a striking exam- 
ple of more than one grace. Abraham was distin- 
guished for his faith ; Moses, for his meekness; Daniel, 
for his intrepidity; John, for the tenderness of his 
love; and Job, for his patience. If we would find per- 
fect symmetry of character in any portion of history, 
we must go to the man Christ Jesus. 

It may aid us to pursue a method in our reflections. 

I. Let us consider the course of providence towards 
Job, and his character and circumstances before his 
great afflictions. Job was a man of great piety. The 
Scriptures say that he was upright and perfect. He 
was not double-tongued, nor double-minded, but sin- 
cere, free from hypocrisy, and had respect to all God's 
commandments. "He feared God and eschewed evil." 
This character is given by God himself. His reputa- 
tion among men was both fair and high. "When the 
young men saw him, they hid themselves." In his 
presence "the aged arose and stood up. The princes 
refrained talking and laid their hand on their mouth. 
The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved 
to the roof of their mouth." Job xxix. 8-10. Proba- 
bly no man ever received more marked attention from 
great and small than did Job. "Unto him men gave 
ear and waited and kept silence at his counsel. After 
his words they spake not again. And they waited for 
him as for the rain." Job xxix. 21-23. 



job's trials and mercies. 169 

He was also esteemed wise, and possessed great in- 
fluence by his eloquence. He was a sound adviser. 
Speaking of his influence over men, it is said, "He 
chose out their way." Job xxix. 25. 

Job was also a great captain. His military skill and 
prowess were such that he dwelt as king in the army. 
Job xxix. 25. "He brake the jaws of the wicked, 
and plucked the spoil out of his teeth." Job xxix, 
17. He was also a philanthropist. He was not in- 
deed ostentatious in his charity, yet such a city set on 
a hill cannot be hid. "When the ear heard him, then 
it blessed him; and when the eye saw him, it gave 
witness to him; because he delivered the poor that 
cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to 
help him. The blessing of him that was ready to 
perish came upon him; and he caused the widow's 
heart to sing for joy. He was eyes to the blind, and 
feet was he to the lame. He was a father to the 
poor." Not only did he do good and relieve the dis- 
tressed in cases which others brought to his notice; but 
he sought out the necessitous and afflicted. "The 
cause which he knew not, he searched out." Job 
xxix. 16. In his labors of love he was both diligent 
and disinterested. 

Before his afflictions Job was a man of great wealth. 

He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand 

camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she- 
15 H 



170 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

asses, and a very great household, that is, numerous 
servants. Job i. 3. In wealth he excelled all the rich 
men of the East. So abundant were his possessions 
that "he washed his steps in butter, and the rock 
poured him out rivers of oil." 

In his own family, Job enjoyed domestic comfort. 
Although he had his fears about his children, yet it 
does not appear that they were either profane or licen- 
tious. He loved them tenderly and they were respect- 
ful to him. His wife seems not to have shown her 
grievous want of piety during his prosperity. 

To crown all his enjoyments, the candle of the Lord 
shined upon his head, and by the light of the divine 
countenance he walked through darkness. The secret 
of God was upon his tabernacle, and the Almighty 
was yet with him. Job xxix. 3-5. It is in God's light 
that we see light. When he smiles we are blessed. 
When he gives comfort, who can afflict? 

All this prosperity begat confidence in its own con- 
tinuance, and led Job to say, "I shall die in my nest 
and I shall multiply my days as the sand. My root 
was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night 
upon my branch. My glory was fresh in me, and my 
bow was renewed in my hand." Job xxix. 18-20. 

II. Let us consider his afflictions themselves and 
his patience under them. A descent from such unusual 
prosperity awakens very different sentiments from 



job's trials and mercies. 171 

those entertained by men, who have long lived in 
humble circumstances and been unexpectedly raised to 
greatness. Let this thought be remembered. 

Job's afflictions commenced with the loss of his 
wealth, consisting of oxen, and asses, and sheep, and 
camels, and servants. The intelligence of these losses 
came upon him by surprise. Poverty is no sin. It 
may come upon us without any fault of ours. Yet 
every one knows that it brings sore trials on all, es- 
pecially on those who are not accustomed to it. All 
this is heightened by the suddenness of its approach. 
This often produces a shock which few hearts are suffi- 
ciently stout to resist. Many who have stood calm 
while thrones were falling around them, who have 
fearlessly stormed the deadly breach, and who have 
manfully suffered popular rage, have sunk under in- 
tolerable anguish, when their earthly possessions have 
taken flight and left them destitute and dependent. 
"Whatever bitterness is necessarily connected with such 
loss was the portion of Job. 

No sooner had the messengers closed their respective 
narratives of his losses of property, than another with 
all the promptness attending the announcement of 
calamities thus spake : " Thy sons and thy daughters 
were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's 
house, and behold there came a great wind from the 
wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, 



172 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead ; 
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." Thus his 
children were carried into eternity on the same day on 
which he lost all his property. Not a child was left 
him. His Reuben and his Benjamin, his daughter 
that was to him as a pet lamb, and she that was in 
mien as a matron, all died. And then they died so 
suddenly. No previous sickness gave warning of 
approaching death. In the morning he had parted 
with them, not dreaming that he should nevermore see 
their faces in the land of the living. Nor had he 
satisfactory evidence that they were prepared for this 
solemn exchange of worlds. Indeed he had fears to 
the contrary. As priest of his own house, he had been 
in the habit of offering sacrifices for them on occasion 
of their feasts, thinking that they might have sinned 
and cursed God in their hearts. Job i. 5. But on this 
occasion Job had not time to offer sacrifice or prayer 
after the close of the feast. How must this saint of 
God have followed in imagination the departed spirits 
of his children. And how must his heart have swollen 
.with anguish when in vain he sought for assurance of 
their salvation. Yet at the end of all this, Job reve- 
rently " fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 
and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb 
and naked shall I return thither : the Lord gave, and 



job's trials and mercies. 173 

the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of 
the Lord." Job i. 20, 21. 

But neither the malignity of Satan nor the mysteri- 
ous love of God would permit Job's sufferings to end 
here. Satan obtained permission to afflict him with 
bodily disease, so that he was covered from the sole 
of his foot unto his crown with sore boils. This 
affliction makes a standing posture a rack of torture, a 
chair a seat of misery, and a couch a " bed of unrest." 
In the midst of his wretchedness, he "took a potsherd 
to scrape himself and he sat down in the ashes." In 
our suffering it is seldom that we cannot find some 
posture that will not give some relief. But this was 
not Job's case. Pain followed pain, and thrill suc- 
ceeded thrill until his agony was complete. Hear his 
dolorous complaint : " When I lie down I say, When 
shall I arise and the night be gone? My flesh is 
clothed with worms and clods of dust ; my skin is 
broken and become loathsome. When I say, My bed 
shall comfort me, then thou scarest me with dreams, 
and terrifiest me through visions. My breath is cor- 
rupt, the graves are ready for me." Job vii. 4, 5, 13, 14, 
and xvii. 1. 

From all this weight of suffering Job might have 
found some relief, had the wife of his bosom possessed 
a right spirit. But when she saw him thus afflicted, 
her heart rose in rebellion against God, and instead of 

15* 



s 

174 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

exhorting her husband to faith and patience, she bade 
him "curse God and die." During his prosperity 
Job's wife may have given some evidence of piety. 
If so, how must such an avowal have pierced his soul ; 
and if not, how afflicting it must have been to behold 
her, whom he loved so tenderly, venting her wicked- 
ness against God ? She not only manifested hatred to 
him whom Job adored ; but she became cold and cruel 
to her husband. He says : " My breath is strange to 
my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of 
my own body." Job xix. 17. The appeal to conjugal 
affection was fruitless. Pointing to the pledges of 
their love in their offspring had no effect. Her mar- 
riage vows and all the kindness she had received were 
forgotten. Her heart was unfeeling. 

Another source of distress to Job was the conduct 
of his friends, his servants and his neighbors. To him 
that is afflicted, pity should be shown. But when 
those in whom we have trusted hide as it were their 
faces from us, it is sad indeed. At first Job's friends 
seemed disposed to sympathize with him, but they 
soon began to accuse him wrongfully. They aggra- 
vated his sufferings by referring to his former pros- 
perity. Job iv. 2. They dealt deceitfully with him. 
Job vi. 15. They scorned him. Job xvi. 20. They 
vexed his soul. Job xix. 2. He says : " They whom 
I loved are turned against me." Job xix. 19. They 



job's trials and mercies. 175 

charged him with hypocrisy, Job xx. 5; they told 
him God was punishing him for his injustice and 
cruelty, Job xxii. 6-9 ; they perverted his language, 
and upon his speech put a construction which he had 
never thought of, and a meaning which he abhorred. 
Job xxxiv. 9 ; xxxv. 2. The great difficulty was thai 
without evidence they believed him guilty ; and such 
people cannot be convinced by evidence. Under these 
circumstances Job poured forth his complaints. Hear 
him : God " hath put my brethren far from me and 
mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My 
kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have 
forgotten me. They that dwell in mine house and my 
maids count me for a stranger. I called my servant 
and he gave me no answer." Job xix. 13-16. So 
full was the conviction of those around Job that he 
was a bad man, and so helpless was he, that he was 
held in the utmost contempt. Even " young children 
despised him, and when he arose they spake against 
him." Job xix. 18. The children of the meanest 
people and of base men, who were viler than the earth 
sported with him and spat upon him. Job xxx. 1-10. 
If we feel great pain at even suspicion thrown on our 
characters, what must Job's anguish have been when 
old and young, rich and poor, vile and honorable, 
pious and ungodly united in suspecting, condemning 
or despising him as a bad man ! Nor had Job any 



176 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

means of proving himself innocent. The charges 
brought against him were general and vague. It was 
impossible for him to prove a negative. Yet he felt, 
as all good men do, that a good name is better than 
great riches and precious ointment. His other trials 
would have been comparatively, light, had his friends 
been true and kind. But they were unstable and 
greatly misjudged him. 

Another source of sorrow was that Job had no sen- 
sible religious comfort. He cries out, "Oh that I 
were as in months past." Job xxix. 2. At no pe- 
riod of his sufferings does he seem to have had those 
transporting views of divine things, which many of 
the martyrs had, and which quenched the violence of 
fire, and bore the soul away from the consideration of 
personal pains to rapturous thoughts on Jesus, and 
heaven, and the crown of imperishable glory. Yea, 
not only was he tossed with tempest and not com- 
forted, but his soul was filled with great distress. He 
cries out: "The arrows of the Almighty are within 
me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the 
terrors of God do set themselves in array against me." 
Job vi. 4. The spirit of a man sustaineth his infirm- 
ity, but a wounded spirit who can bear? Even when 
alone the terrors of God may be insupportable; but 
when joined to so many other evils, where is the heart 
strong enough to bear the dreadful weight? 



job's trials and mercies. 177 

It heightened Job's misery that he had not sweet 
access to God by prayer. He says, "Oh that I knew 
where I might find him! that I might come even to 
his seat! I would order my cause before him. Be- 
hold I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, 
but I cannot perceive him ; on the left hand, but I cannot 
behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand that 
I cannot see him." Job xxiii. 3, 4, 8, 9. The privilege 
of prayer in all its sweetness remaining to God's peo- 
ple, they have inexpressible comfort; but when that is 
gone, what can the soul do? 

Another aggravation of Job's affliction was, that al- 
though better instructed than his friends, he yet but 
imperfectly understood the doctrine of providence. 
This difficulty has been felt in every age. In the 
patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations it terribly af- 
flicted the righteous. Even under the clear light of 
the gospel, good men have perplexities from this 
source. Job had no such clear Scriptures as these: 
"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten;" "If ye be 
without chastisement, ye are not sons;" "We must 
through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God;" 
"We know that all things work together for good to 
them who love God." Instead of this clear light Job 
himself saw God's ways involved in inscrutable mys- 
tery. Job xxxi. 3. 

Hope of better days on earth seems quite to have 



178 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

departed from him. He says, "I shall no more see 
good," Job vii. 7. As far forward as his vision ex- 
tended, all was dark and dreary. No star of pro- 
mise, no ray of joyous expectation illumined the 
gloom. Former greatness and happiness but showed 
him how low he had fallen. They gave no pledge of 
return. All seemed to be irretrievably gone. The 
great man of Uz became a companion to owls, and his 
harp was turned into mourning, and his organ into 
the voice of them that weep. Job xxx. 29, 31. 

Under this enormous load of suffering Job set a 
bright example of patience. Not a word of sin- 
ful murmur escaped his lips. Job i. 22. He exhibited 
not the proud severity of the stoic in refusing to ac- 
knowledge himself afflicted. He had not the iron 
hardihood of atheism, denying God's hand in his trou 
bles. Nor did he exhibit the sinful sinking of unbe- 
lief. He submissively acquiesced in what God or- 
dained. He brought no foolish charge against his 
Maker. He meekly says : "What? shall we receive 
good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive 
evil?" Job ii. 10. He sought solace in worship and 
especially in praise. It is not claimed that in all 
things Job was spotlessly pure, but only that he was 
in the main and persistently upright. Near the close 
of the book God himself says, "My servant Job has 
spoken of me the thing that is right." Job xlii. 7. Job 



job's trials and mercies. 179 

did indeed undertake to reason on matters beyond his 
knowledge. Job xxxviii. 2. But the general tenor of 
his feelings was pleasing to God. For a long time he 
bore the most trying events with a spirit of submission 
probably never equalled in a mere man. For this 
cause he is fitly held up to us as one whose example is 
worthy of imitation. 

III. Let us consider his history after the heavy 
hand of God was no longer upon him. On this 
point the record is brief but highly satisfactory. 
"The Lord turned the captivity of Job, and gave 
him twice as much as he had before. Then came 
there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and 
all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and 
did eat bread with him in his house; and they be- 
moaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that 
the Lord had brought upon him : every man also gave 
him a piece of money, and every one an earring of 
gold. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more 
than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand 
sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke 
of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven 
sons and three daughters. . . . And in all the 
land were no women found so fair as the daughters of 
Job • and their father gave them inheritance among 
their brethren. After this Job lived an hundred and 
forty years, and saw his sons and his sons' sons, even 



ISO JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

four generations. So Job died being old and full of 
days." Job xlii. 10-17. Every foul imputation on his 
character was wiped away. Every slanderous tongue 
was silenced. The terrible storm was passed. Only 
the peaceable fruits of righteousness remained. So- 
bered and chastened he indeed was, but richly laden 
with the experience of God's goodness. He saw the 
end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of 
tender mercy. 

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 

1. How vain are all merely earthly possessions! 
How unstable is popular favor! How uncertain are 
riches ! How soon our pleasures may be followed by 
pains! ■ "When parents rejoice at the birth of a child, 
they know not how soon they may weep over his dead 
body without an assurance that his soul is saved. Solo- 
mon thoroughly tried the world. His sober inspired 
judgment was that all was vanity. The sooner 
we reach that conclusion ourselves, the wiser shall 
we be. 

2. Let us always be more afraid of sinning against 
God than of offending our nearest earthly friends. 
Job instantly repulsed the wicked assaults of his wife, 
saying, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women 
speaketh." Job ii. 10. To his own disciple, Peter, 
Jesus was compelled to say: "Get thee behind me, 



job's trials and mercies. 181 

Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou sa- 
vorest not the things that be of God but those 
that be of men." Matt. xvi. 23. No human friend- 
ship may for a moment interfere with our fidelity 
to God. 

3. Although God generally chooses the poor as his 
children, yet he offers mercy to the rich, and receives 
all such as humbly seek his grace. Job's riches did 
not debar him from the kingdom of heaven. By rea- 
son of depravity riches tend to alienate the heart from 
God; yet sovereign grace can remedy that evil. He, 
who is rich in this world's goods, and also rich in 
faith and good works, is loudly called to sing the 
praises of Jehovah. Nothing but almighty power 
could thus make the camel go through the eye of the 
needle, or preserve the soul from the burning flames 
of insatiable covetousness. 

4. Weight of character and a high order of talents 
are by no means confined to the enemies of God. 
"Why should they be ? Piety is wisdom. Who ever 
stood higher for wisdom in council, for soundness of 
judgment and for prowess in war than did the man of 
Uz ? In proportion to the number of consistent pro- 
fessors of religion, there cannot be found any number 
of men who surpass God's people for calmness of in- 
quiry, soberness of mind and practical wisdom. True 

16 



s 

1 82 JEHOVAH- JIREH. 

religion is worthy of the most earnest and solemn 
attention. 

5. Good men are not always good in proportion to 
the degree of light which they enjoy. Job is supposed 
to have lived before the time of Moses, under the 
obscurity of the patriarchal dispensation ; yet he was 
a burning and a shining light. He neither saw nor 
heard many wondrous things well known to us. Yet 
how far did he and Abraham and Enoch and other 
ancient worthies excel the great mass of even good 
men of these latter days. Truly we ought to blush 
for our short-comings. Guilt is in proportion to light. 
Surely then we must be very guilty for our sad defi- 
ciencies. 

6. When malice, or envy, or suspicion, or evil sur- 
mising exists, no established reputation, no want of 
evidence of guilt can " tie the gall up in the slander- 
ous tongue." By a long and holy life Job had given 
incontestible evidence of the purity of his character. 
His friends could bring no proof of his criminality in 
anything. Yet they charged him with cruelty, rapa- 
city and hypocrisy. Such wickedness has not yet left 
the earth. It is no new or rare thing for the best men 
to be charged with the basest plans, principles or 
practices. It will be so until grace shall reign through 
Jesus Christ over all hearts. A propensity to evil 
thoughts and evil speeches is among the last faults 



job's trials and mercies. 183 

of character from which even good men are de- 
livered. 

7. If friends accuse us falsely and act as enemies, 
let us not forget to pray for them. Job set us the 
example : Job xlii. 8. Enmities arising between old 
friends are generally more violent than others. "A 
brother offended is harder to be won than a strong 
city: and their contentions are like the bars of a 
castle." Prov. xviii. 19. But we must not yield to 
passion. We must forgive and seek blessings on 
those who falsely accuse us and cruelly entreat us. It 
was not till Job prayed for his accusers that God 
turned his captivity. Let us never carry a load of 
malice in our hearts. It is worse than any evil we 
can suffer at the hand of man, 

8. When our characters are assailed, we are at 
liberty to use Christian measures to remove an evil 
report. It is then best to leave the whole matter in 
the hands of God. Lawsuits for character may be 
lawful and sometimes expedient. But when bad pas- 
sions are excited no character is so unspotted that 
malice will not spew out its venom against it. We 
may deny our guilt ; we may call for evidence against 
us; we may bring evidence of innocence; but with 
men of heated imaginations and strong prejudices, 
evidence never has its just weight. 

9. It is very dangerous to become involved in a 



184 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

labyrinth of reasoning concerning God, his character 
and providence. Things which are revealed belong 
to us and our children. We may safely follow where- 
ever revelation leads ; but we are no judges of what is 
proper to be done under the government of God. The 
attempt to criticise the divine proceedings is always a 
failure and iniquity. 

10. It is important to study the Scriptures and 
learn all we can concerning the plans and providence 
of God. Had Job clearly known what we by patient 
study may learn, it would have removed much of the 
pungency of his grief. God's word is a light and a 
lamp. Let us walk by it. 

11. What is the grief of each one? Is it poverty, 
poor health, want of reputation, loss of religious com- 
fort ? Whatever it be, take for an example of suffer- 
ing affliction Job, the narrative of whose trials was 
written for our comfort. Like him, let each one say 
of the Almighty, "Though he slay me, yet will I 
trust in him." Job xiii. 15. Never was pious confi- 
dence in the Lord misplaced. Never did any trust in 
him and was confounded. 

12. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear 
him. The greatest secret God ever reveals to his 
people is the mystery of redemption. Of this Job 
was not ignorant. By this he triumphed. His ow T n 
language is explicit: "I know that my Redeemer 



job's trials and mercies. 185 

liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon 
the earth : and though after my skin worms de- 
stroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God : 
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall 
behold and not another." Job xix. 25-27. 
16 * 



186 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

god's providence towards his church renders 
unnecessary all tormenting fears respect- 
ing her safety and final triumph. 

rilHE fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 
-"- Of that kind of fear we cannot have too much. 

There is also a salutary fear, based in self-distrust, 
and opposed to pride and carelessness. That is a good 
quality. Blessed is the man that feareth always. 

But there is a fear which torments. It disheartens, 
multiplies difficulties, magnifies obstacles, and refuses 
available resources. Such fear brings a snare. It 
begets doubts and despondency. It cries, There is a 
lion in the way. It weeps when it should rejoice. It 
sings dirges when paeans are called for. It is in many 
ways an enemy to our peace and usefulness. It is a 
grief to our fellows. It is an offence to God. 

Sometimes such fear possesses the church. She 
trembles for her own safety. Let us consider the mat- 
ter in order. 



THE CHURCH SAFE. 187 

I. the occasions OF this fear are such as these: 
1. When the church looks to herself for resources 
and encouragement. She is "a little flock." "Jacob 
is small." The people of God are "a remnant." 
The house of God cannot boast of great numbers. 
Much as Zion has lengthened her cords beyond her 
former possessions, she is still but a garden hedged in. 
Few love her feasts, or delight in her solemnities. 
Her outward state is humble. Most of her friends 
are poor. In gathering his family, the Lord refuses 
none, who sincerely apply for admission; yet gene- 
rally he pours contempt on princes, stains the pride of 
all glory, takes the beggar from the dunghill and ex- 
alts him to sonship with God. Zion's friends are an 
afflicted people. "She is black as the tents of Kedar. 
The sun hath looked upon her." Waters of a full 
cup are wrung out to her children. Her garments 
are stained in the blood of her martyrs. She is very 
feeble. In one text God addresses the church as 
"thou worm Jacob." Her attainments are low. 
Faith is weak. Love is languid. Joy spreads but 
few feasts. Self-denial has taught but few of her hard 
lessons. Humility furnishes but a scant robe. Zeal, 
where is it? She is also sadly divided. Her unity is 
marred. "Her children have been angry with her." 
They have been unnatural. Ephraim has envied 
Judah, and Judah has vexed Ephraim. 



188 Jehovah-jireh. 

2. Another occasion of fear is the apparent inade- 
quacy of the means of the church's defence. Ascension 
gifts have indeed descended on her pastors and 
teachers. Still they are not angels but men, men of 
like passions with others, not vessels used in heaven, 
but vessels of clay. The cherub in glorious knowledge 
and the seraph in holy fires appear not in any of our 
pulpits. When God vouchsafes his presence, divine 
ordinances are clothed with a blessed efficacy, but if 
the Spirit offended by our sins withdraws, it is "even 
as when an hungry man dreameth, and behold he 
eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as 
when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold he drinketh, 
but he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and his soul 
hath appetite." In the letter the Gospel no less than 
the law killeth. In the hands of the new-creating 
Spirit it is the power of God; otherwise it is foolish- 
ness, a stumbling-block, sounding brass, a tinkling 
cymbal, and he, who proclaims it, does but beat the 
air. The weapons of our warfare have no mightiness 
but through God. 

3. Another occasion of fear to the church is found 
in the number, haughtiness, cunning, fierceness and 
cruelty of her foes. Their name is legion. The church 
dwells like the turtle-dove surrounded by birds of 
prey. Her enemies present whole empires, and those 
the most populous, in solid masses of wickedness. 



THE CHURCH SAFE. 189 

Their insolence is diabolical. They shoot out the lip. 
They point the finger of scorn. They deride pious 
grief. They mocked the dying agonies of her Lord. 
They ridicule her noblest designs, saying, " If a fox go 
up, he shall even break down their stone wall." They 
exhaust their powers of reproach and ignominy on the 
saints. They rely on worldly influence. In fury they 
are like raging waves of the sea, foaming out their 
thundering menaces. The blood of the faithful they 
have poured out like water to the dogs of persecution, 
who have licked it up with greediness. Many a time 
has persecution 

" Sat and planned 
Deliberately and with most musing pains, 
How to extremest thrill of agony, 
The flesh, and blood, and souls of holy men, 
Her victims, might be wrought; and when she saw 
New tortures, of her laboring fancy born, 
She leaped for joy, and made great haste to try 
Their force, well pleased to hear a deeper groan," 

We may live to see such days. Sober writers on pro- 
phecy seem to expect a wasting fury of wicked pas- 
sions before the blaze of Millenial glory. But whether 
raging or quiet, the enemies of the church are always 
cunning. With the venom they have also the guile 
of the serpent — that old serpent, who deceiveth the 
nations. They lay dark plots. They fill the way to 
Zion with pits and snares. This is especially true of 



s 

190 JEHOVAH- JIREH. 

the fautors of false doctrine. "Insidiousness seems to 
be a common character of heresy."* " Damnable here- 
sies" are always brought in " privily." If it were 
possible false teachers would deceive the very elect. 

4. Another occasion for sinful fear in the church is 
the seeming tardiness of her divine Head in avenging 
her wrongs and vindicating her cause. Zion forgets 
that the plans of her King reach from an eternity past 
to an eternity to come. Forgetting this, the church 
cries, u O Lord, how long?" "Why art thou unto me 
as a liar and as waters that fail?" "I look for judg- 
ment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far 
from me." For ages the church has cried, "How 
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and 
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" 
How often is the heart made sick by the deferring of 
hope. Edwards ventured to conjecture that he had 
seen the dawn of the latter-day glory. Yet he lived 
to see folly, heresy, fanaticism and persecution mar the 
glory of that great revival. 

n. SUCH FEAR IS WITHOUT GOOD CAUSE. 

The language of God to Zion is clear and unmis- 
takeable : " Fear not ; be not dismayed ." God gives 
reasons, good reasons for such encouragement : " I am 
with thee ; I am thy God ; I will strengthen thee ; I 

* Milner. 



THE CHURCH SAFE. 191 

will help thee ; I will uphold thee with the right hand 
of my righteousness." These words are full of com- 
fort. They point us to God's omnipresence. " I am 
with thee." With his church God goes through the 
Red sea, through the wilderness, through Jordan, 
through the wars of Canaan. He goes with Jeremiah 
into the mire of the dungeon of Malchiah, with Daniel 
into the lions' den, with the young Hebrews into the 
burning fiery furnace, with Stephen through the shower 
of stones, and with John to the island of Patmos. Nor 
does he confine his presence to great men, or great 
occasions. To the whole church in all her states and 
trials he says, " I will never, no never leave thee ; I 
will never, no never, no never forsake thee." " When 
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; 
and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee ; 
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be 
burned ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." 

In this presence of God there is a blessed concord 
among the persons of the adorable Trinity. The 
eternal Father says, " I am with thee." The eternal 
Son says, " Lo, I am with you always even unto the 
end of the world." The eternal Spirit by the Son 
assures us that he will abide with us forever. This 
presence supposes and implies readiness to hear com- 
plaints, to extend aid, to protect, support and deliver. 
It gives us at hand vast storehouses of infinite perfec- 



192 JEHOVAH-JIREII. 

tions from which to draw supplies. Let the church 
stand on this rock and sing : " God is our refuge and 
strength, a very present help in trouble." 

Look, too, at the power of God promised to help, 
uphold and strengthen us. Pious -men of all ages have 
stayed themselves on that almightiness, severed from 
which the universe would rush headlong into the bot- 
tomless abyss of annihilation, but supported by which 
all worlds travel, "wheeling unshaken through im- 
mensity." The Lord thus chides and cheers us at 
once : " I, even I, am he that comforteth you : who 
art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that 
shall die, and of the son of man that shall be made as 
grass ; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath 
stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations 
of the earth ; and hast feared continually every day 
because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were 
ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppres- 
sor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be 
loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that 
his bread should fail." " Hast thou not known ? hast 
thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, 
the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, 
neither is weary? there is no searching of his under- 
standing. He giveth power to the faint, and to them 
that have no might he increaseth strength." Who 
dare affirm that anything is too hard for God ? He, 



THE CHURCH SAFE. 193 

who humbly relies on the presence and power of God 

"is the man whom storms can never make 
Meanly complain ; nor can a flattering gale 
Make him talk proudly : he hath no desire 
To read his secret fate : yet unconcerned 
And calm can meet his unborn destiny 
In all its charming or its frightful shapes." 

The Bible abounds in exceeding great and precious 
promises, inwoven into the covenant, which God has 
made with his chosen, and which has been the joy of 
the saints in all ages. That covenant is everlasting. 
Time, change, tumult, can never set it aside. Abra- 
ham, David, and all the prophets hold their places in 
heaven by this tenure. 

This covenant is also sure. There is no flaw in it. 
It is well ordered. It is the device of God himself, 
the work of eternal wisdom. 

This covenant is confirmed by renewals, by fulfil- 
ments, by ordinances, by signs and seals, and by the 
solemnities of an oath. For, "God willing more 
abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the im- 
mutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath, that 
by two immutable things, in which it was impossible 
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation." 
Now, " though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be 
confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto." 

How firm then must be the covenant of God ! 
17 . I 



194 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

This covenant is not encumbered with any causal or 
meritorious conditions. We are to look and live, to 
take and eat, to receive Christ and his grace, and be 
saved forever. No money, no merit is required of us. 

This covenant is ample in its provisions. It secures 
the promise of the life that now is, and of that which 
is to come. It secures bread and water, food and 
raiment, justification and sanctification, faith, repent- 
ance, hope, love, joy, meekness, patience, gentleness, 
peace, experience, victory and an exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory. It makes death a blessing. It pro- 
nounces the believer heir of all things. It converts 
ills into mercies. 

This covenant is sealed in the blood of the Son 
of God. " This is the new testament in my blood," 
says he. 

The execution of this covenant is conducted under 
"the ministration of the Spirit." He gives us the 
anointing that abideth, the unction that teacheth all 
things. 

This covenant is never to be forgotten. God never 
forgets it, nor will he let his people forget it. 

This covenant is ordained in the hands of a Media- 
tor, Jesus, who is " the Messenger of the covenant," 
" God's elect, in whom his soul delighteth," the God- 
man, the Surety of all his people. The exceeding 
fitness of our Saviour to administer this covenant is 



THE CHURCH SAFE. 195 

often declared in Scripture. First, "He thought it 
not robbery to be equal with God." vHis eternal 
power and Godhead are never questioned in heaven. 
As a days-man he is able to lay his hand upon God. 
Secondly, finding those to be redeemed in human 
nature, he took part of the same. He became bone of 
our bone and flesh of our flesh. He assumed our 
whole nature, its sinfulness excepted. He was tempted 
in all points like as we are. He carried our sorrows. 
He shook hands with grief and made affliction his 
bosom companion. With tastes exquisitely refined 
and with sensibilities the keenest, he lived and died 
poor, subsisting chiefly on the charities of a few hum- 
ble females, he hungered, he thirsted, he toiled, he 
wept, he prayed, he died, and even in his mysterious 
agony, he showed his power and grace by saving a 
thief, and his filial piety and natural affection by 
making the most fitting provision for his aged mother. 
Even after his resurrection he gave many infallible 
proofs that he was still truly a man. Thirdly, Christ 
was pre-eminently prepared for his work by being 
gloriously anointed by the Holy Ghost. " He received 
the Spirit not by measure." All fulness of grace, and 
truth, and wisdom dwelt in him. Fourthly, in conse- 
quence of what he was and did and suffered, he is 
highly exalted. His name is above every name. The 
universe is subsidized to him. He summons the stars 



196 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

to fight his battles, and they obey him. His angels 
at his command confound his foes and save his people. 
"By him kings reign, and princes decree justice. By 
him princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the 
earth." Over good and bad, angels and men he sways 
his sceptre. It was he, who struck the oracles dumb. 
Even his birth sent confusion into the heathen tem- 
ples. The most famous seat of such worship was at 
Delphos. When the oracle there was asked why he 
so seldom gave responses now, the answer was, " There 
is a Hebrew boy, who is king of the gods, who has 
commanded me to leave this house, and be gone to 
hell, and therefore you are to expect no more answers." 
O yes, the Hebrew boy is the Father of eternity, the 
Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God. Devils were 
subject unto him. Pharaoh, Cyrus, Sennacherib, 
Herod, Nero, every tyrant and every persecutor did 
but " accomplish his whole work on Mount Zion." 

If convulsions shake heaven and earth, if thrones 
and empires crumble to dust, if rivers of blood are 
poured out, if famine and pestilence devastate the land, 
if there be " upon the earth distress of nations with 
perplexity; the sea and the waves thereof roaring: 
men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking 
after those things, which are coming on the earth," 
still we sing, " O Zion, thy God reigneth." On the 
other hand to his people he is the Prince of peace. To 



THE CHURCH SAFE. 197 

them he is as " the light of the morning, when the sun 
riseth, even a morning without clouds ; as the tender 
grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after 
rain." Thou worm Jacob, he helps thee, he upholds 
thee, he strengthens thee. He makes "the feeble 
among his saints to be as David, and the house of 
David to be as God, as the angel of the Lord." 
"When the poor and needy seek water and there is 
none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, he opens 
rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the 
valleys. He makes the wilderness a pool of water and 
the dry land springs of water." His compassions are 
infinite, his power almighty, his wisdom unerring. 
Before his incarnation he was afflicted in all their 
affliction, and since his ascension he has once come 
down within the hearing of men to assure us that he 
and his people are one, saying to the enraged blas- 
phemer, "Why persecutest thou me?" His church is 
graven on the palms of his hands. In the midst of 
cares and business the husband may forget the wife of 
his youth; but the bridegroom of the church has 
" betrothed her unto him forever, yea he has betrothed 
her unto him in righteousness, and in judgment and 
in loving-kindness, and in mercies. He has even 
betrothed her unto him in faithfulness." And all this 
provision of mercy, of a covenant with a Surety, was 

made in mere love and pity. So that we may in- 

17* 



s 

19H JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

trepidly reason, If " God spared not his own Son, but 
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with 
him freely give us all things ?" Such reasoning is. 
conclusive — unanswerable. It shuts us up to hope. 
It forbids all harassing fears. It brands dismay with 
guilt and infamy. 

If these things are so, then every pious man ought 
to be far more concerned to derive benefit from afflic- 
tions, than to get rid of them. We are always guilty 
when we do not gather the peaceable fruit of righteous- 
ness from our chastisements. From adversity the 
church should derive the following benefits : 

1. She should learn the meaning of many portions 
of Scripture. The Psalms and many of the sacred 
writings are best studied in the day of darkness, trial, 
bereavement. Whatever leads us correctly to under- 
stand God's word is useful to us. 

2. Trials lead to prayer. How seldom has strong 
crying with tears ascended to God, except from the 
hearts of believers borne down with an awful weight 
of sorrow. At prayer in the whale's belly Jonah is 
safer and nearer deliverance than asleep on the ship. 

3. In sanctified affliction we acquire increased con- 
fidence in God. We find that we are as safe and can 
be as quiet when haled before judges, when loaded 
with chains and reproaches, when stripped of earthly 



THE CHURCH SAFE. 199 

stays and props, as when abounding in plenty, and 
having outward peace and prosperity. 

4. "The path of duty is the path of safety." Daniel 
in the lion's den, Paul in carrying his cause to Rome, 
and Luther in burning the pope's bull, were perfectly safe 
because they were following the leadings of Providence. 
God will defend all, who work righteousness and trust 
in the Lord. A man is not hurt, till his soul is hurt; 
and his soul is not hurt, till his conscience is defiled ; 
and his conscience is not defiled, till it is polluted with 
sin. Nothing can harm us, as long as we are follow- 
ers of that which is good. 

5. The triumph of the wicked is short, and all car- 
nal boasting is vain. The greatest of all victories is 
that which one obtains over his own evil heart. "Re- 
joice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine 
heart be glad when he stumbleth : lest the Lord see it, 
and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath 
from him." At all times beware of carnal exultation. 

6. God will take care of his interests on earth. He 
will promote the purity and protect the innocence of 
his church. "All is not lost that is brought into dan- 
ger." "In the mount it shall be seen." "Man's ex- 
tremity is God's opportunity." "When things get to 
the worst, they begin to grow better." "When the 
bricks are doubled, then comes Moses." 

7. Whoever risks anything for the truth, and cause, 



200 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

and people of God, shall ultimately suffer damage in 
nothing. "He that loseth his life shall find it." He, 
who piously leads a life of self-denial, has a con- 
tinual feast. 

8. Let us judge nothing before the time. We are 
of yesterday and know nothing. Though the Lord 
cause grief, he will have compassion according to the 
multitude of his mercies, for he does not afflict wil- 
lingly nor grieve the children of men. 

9. If we see the oppression of the poor, and the vio- 
lent perverting of judgment and justice in the earth, 
we should not marvel at the matter; for he that is 
higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher 
than they. Ecc. v. 8. Nor let us be greedy of the 
things that perish. "As the partridge sitteth on 
eggs, and hatcheth them not, so he that getteth riches, 
and not by right, shall lose them in the midst of his 
days, and at his end shall be a fool." Jer. xvii. 11. 

10. All the trials the church undergoes are tests, 
and show God's people what is in their hearts. So 
we read of Hezekiah. "In the business of the ambas- 
sadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him 
to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, 
God left him, to try him, that he might know all that 
was in his heart." 2 Chr. xxxii. 31. 

11. God so arranges and blesses the trials of his 
people, as commonly to make them the means of 



THE CHURCH SAFE. 201 

strengthening their love to the church. He, who 
does not love Zion, does not love her King. He, 
who does not prefer Jerusalem above his chief joy, is 
not prepared for glory. "Whatever leads us to "walk 
about Zion, go round about her, tell the towers thereof, 
mark well her bulwarks, and consider her palaces," is 
good for us, and refreshes us. 

12. Some trials in each age of the church are neces- 
sary to keep alive the principles of personal and reli- 
gious liberty. The world is always cruel and tyran- 
nizing. Every generation has to fight the battle of 
freedom of thought, and freedom of worship. The 
world is always encroaching. 

13. Let us often inquire, Wherefore, O Lord, dost 
thou contend with us? There is always a cause — a 
need be — for our afflictions. Blessed is he who knows 
his calling, his business, his opportunity, and the end 
God has in view in dealing with him. 

14. By the review and remembrance of past trials, 
let the church gather strength for future conflicts. 
Often do saints sing: 

" When we review our dismal fears, 

'Tis hard to think they've vanished so; 

With God we left our flowing tears, 

He makes our joys like rivers flow." 

" Zion enjoys her monarch's love, 

Secure against a threatening hour ; 

Nor can her firm foundation move, 

Built on his truth, and armed with power." 
I* 



s 

202 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

god's providence over nations. 

|~N general men think far too little of God's provi- 
-*- dence over nations. In great perplexity, when 
evidently the power of man is wholly inadequate to re- 
move or avert evils, then indeed the thoughtful say, 
In God alone is our help. If divine interposition is 
required in anything, surely it is essential in the go- 
vernment of nations. The interests at stake are vast 
and momentous. Property, liberty, reputation and 
life, with ail the rights and blessings connected with 
them, are powerfully protected or ruinously destroyed 
by political institutions. An invasion of rights re- 
specting either of these has often called forth the 
greatest powers of argument and eloquence, even when 
but one man had committed or suffered an aggression. 
But in the government of nations the rights of thou- 
sands, generally of millions, are at stake. If conscious 
integrity under slander, violence or chains may, from 
its dark cells, lift up its supplicating eye to the Father 
of spirits, and hope that he will make bare his arm, 



PROVIDENCE OVER NATIONS. 203 

and plead its cause, though the person of but one, and 
he an humble member of society, be involved; can we 
believe that the destinies of a mighty people associated 
in a body politic are forgotten before God? If the 
gentle shepherd, the distressed mariner, the dying pri- 
soner, the orphan boy, or the defenceless widow may 
venture to repose confidence in Jehovah; surely may a 
nation expect that their common and unspeakable 
interests will not be forgotten before God? 

These thoughts derive no small force from the abso- 
lute incapacity of nations to protect themselves, or to 
preserve their own existence. There are but few men 
in the world possessed of any considerable wisdom in 
the management of political affairs. The eloquent, the 
brave, the learned are often wholly unfit for times of trial 
in the regulation of states and empires. We have the 
highest authority for saying: "Great men are not always 
wise." The affairs of nations are so complicated, the 
interests involved are so conflicting, the passions of 
men are so turbulent, and a passage through difficul- 
ties is often so narrow and so intricate, that learning 
gives no safe precedents, eloquence is powerless in the 
presence of fierce opposition, courage is as useless as it 
would be in attacking a tornado, and age and publio 
services are forgotten, despised or envied. In such 
times there is need of wisdom in all the departments 
of government — a wisdom too that has seldom been 



204 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

attained by mortals. The shrewdest men the world 
has ever seen have often felt themselves embarrassed 
and sometimes confounded. Moreover, the really wise 
men in any nation, being a very small minority in 
fact, are often so in the adoption of measures. They 
see one after another of the only safe plans, which they 
recommend, rejected until they despair of success. 
Their foresight is called fancy; their prudence is es- 
teemed timidity; their moderation is set down to the 
account of lukewarmness ; and their timely courage 
is called rashness. Every people on earth, at least 
every free people, have at times been like a vessel dis- 
masted, her rudder bands broken, herself driven before 
the winds, and at the mercy of the waves. No pilot 
but one that has omniscience is adequate to stand at 
the helm and guide her safely through the storm. 

A pure despotism is the simplest form of govern- 
ment in the world. In it the will of one man decides 
everything. The moment men depart one step towards 
constitutional freedom, the government becomes com- 
plex. The more freedom, the more difficult it is to 
understand and adjust the balances of the Constitution 
and the laws under it. Hence the necessity of trans- 
cendent wisdom in rulers. But if great men are not 
always wise, neither are wise men always honest, dis- 
interested and patriotic. Ahithophel was a traitor. 
Richelieu was bold, intriguing and fond of war. He 



PROVIDENCE OVER NATIONS. 205 

wasted Savoy, Pignerol and Casal. He sent Mary de 
Medicis, his great benefactress, to end her days in exile. 
He agitated all surrounding kingdoms with dissen- 
sions and insurrections. He had great abilities but- 
great ambition and very few virtues. Talleyrand fell 
with every tottering dynasty and rose with its suc- 
cessor. His very wisdom was the scourge of the 
nation which he ruled. Pitt was a great statesman, 
but his wars cost England nearly a million of millions 
of pounds sterling, besides precious lives innumerable, 
and the loss of more private virtue than the glory of 
all the kingdoms of the world is worth. Men who 
might understand what ought to be done for a nation's 
good are often vain, cruel and sordidly selfish. When 
wisdom degenerates into cunning, and political acts 
are cautiously constructed to secure the elevation of 
their authors, their very gifts are a curse. Their long 
and loud professions of love of country deceive none 
but the unwary. When any one dares to oppose their 
nefarious schemes, they cry out, "Art thou he that 
troubleth Israel ?" They often pander to the sins of 
the nation. Their appeals are to the worst passions 
of the human breast. Their practice is never better 
than their principles. Sometimes they are wine-bibbers 
and drunkards ; sometimes they are lewd and profane ; 
sometimes^gamblers and duellists. They deride God's 

18 



206 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

name ; they despise his Sabbaths ; they scorn his wor- 
ship; they reject his word. 

Some have thought that, because in the United 
States, Christianity has outlived the ten thousand 
malignant blows aimed at her sacred standard and her 
standard bearers by the army of infidels that arose just 
after the French Revolution, therefore pure religion is 
here in no danger. But is this not a mistake ? In 
the eyes of a majority of this nation, it is no longer a 
reproach to be a professed Christian. For years some 
great men have been courting various religious denomi- 
nations in order to secure their votes. Hence new 
dangers threaten both the body politic and the church 
of God. Already hypocrisy and phariseeism are by 
some deemed advantageous in political contests. The 
world is not without a solemn lesson on this subject. 
It may not be resolved by any legislature, as once it 
was by Parliament, that " no person shall be employed 
but such as the House is satisfied of his real godliness." 
Yet oftentimes public opinion is more powerful than 
any statute. Let ambitious men be once persuaded 
that an assumption of the Christian's name and garb 
will advance their interests, and if we do not find them 
with " plain dress and lank hair," " talking through 
their noses and showing the whites of their eyes," we 
shall at least find them flattering the vanity of the 
silly or superstitious, and desecrating the high func- 



PROVIDENCE OVER NATIONS. 207 

tions of their stations to sectarian fanaticism, and 
putting their hands upon the holy things of a religion, 
which hurls its most awful anathemas against a vain 
show of piety; but says imperatively to each one, 
" My son, give me thy heart." 

Surely then there is need for the insteppings of Je- 
hovah to guide and govern nations ; nations generally ; 
each nation in particular. Truly God is their only 
hope. If he withdraw his arm they sink. If he 
remove his protecting shield, they fall before their 
enemies. If he take his strong and quieting hand off 
the hearts of the people, their passions heated as in a 
furnace burst forth, and free institutions like stubble 
perish before the consuming fire. 

It is therefore no less the part of wisdom than of 
piety to acknowledge the absolute dependence of every 
nation upon the all-wise governance and nurturing 
care of Jehovah for the perpetuity of its blessings. 
Sober men in every age and country have publicly and 
privately confessed how the Lord alone did make, and 
save, and keep them a people. Many a time does the 
peace of every land hang by a thread, and faction, or 
violence, or treachery stand ready with their weapons 
to cut it. Without God's good providence too, nations 
would soon perish from famine or pestilence. 

Very easily can God arm even a feeble folk to set 
at defiance for years together the skill of the most 



208 JEHOVAH-J1REH. 

powerful governments. At one time in this century 
four of the mightiest nations on earth for years found 
their arms and prowess held at bay by comparatively 
contemptible tribes ; Russia by the Circassians ; Eng- 
land by the Afghans ; France by the Algerines ; and 
America by the Seminoles. Each of these powerful 
states expended scores of millions of money and wasted 
many precious lives, while God was teaching them 
that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the 
strong, but that God is Judge of all. 

These views are fully sustained by Scripture. If the 
weakness and wickedness of men show that nations 
cannot be preserved by human power and wisdom, 
revelation teaches the same. It is not convenient to 
present all the passages of Holy Writ which establish 
this truth. The following are some of them. God 
claims to be the Father and Founder of nations. To 
Ishmael he said: "I will make of thee a nation." To 
Abraham he said: "I will make of thee a strong na- 
tion." Very often in the Scriptures does he claim to 
have founded and preserved the Jewish nation. Again 
it is said: "He shall judge among the nations," and 
"The Lord is governor among the nations." God is 
often said to have scattered nations, to have cast out 
nations, to have divided to the nations their inheri- 
tance, to increase nations, to enlarge them, and to sub- 
due them. Nor is Jehovah burdened with this mighty 



PROVIDENCE OVER NATIONS. 209 

charge; for all nations are before him as nothing and 
vanity, a drop of the bucket and the dust of the 
balance. "When he giveth quietness, who then can 
make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then 
can behold it? whether it be done against a nation, or 
against a man only." God has often threatened to 
punish nations, to be avenged on them, yea, to cast 
into hell the nations that forget God. These are but 
a small part of the solemn texts of Scripture on this 
subject. They are enough to show that God's provi- 
dence over nations is universal and particular. 

They also show that there is cause of fear for every 
nation on earth. The Lord is their governor and they 
have rebelled against him. They have been exceedingly 
ungrateful. What prosperous nation hath not waxed 
fat and kicked against the Lord? How do pride, and 
vanity, and covetousness, and evil speaking, and pro- 
faneness, and drunkenness, and hatred between the 
rich and poor, and contempt of authority, and violence, 
and bloodshedding stain the escutcheon of every na- 
tion ! How is the permanency of every good govern- 
ment endangered by office seekers ! 

" Unnumber'd suppliants crowd preferment's gate, 
A thirst for wealth, and burning to be great; 
Delusive fortune hears the incessant call, 
They mount, they shine, evaporate and fall. 
On every stage the foes of peace attend, 
Hate dogs their flight, and insult marks their end." 
18 * 



210 JEHOVAII-JIREII. 

When God afflicts any nation let its inhabitants 
reverently bow before him and humbly submit to his 
chastisements. 

Let good men pray and trust in the providence of 
God. He can deliver them and their nation out of 
all their troubles. It is his memorial in every 

GENERATION THAT HE HEARETH PRAYER. 

Let men praise Jehovah for all his wonderful acts 
towards their respective nations in days that are past. 
We have many model Psalms on this subject. It is 
the Lord that giveth salvation unto kings and deliver- 
eth his servants from the hurtful sword. It is he that 
makes our sons as plants, grown up in their youth, 
and our daughters as corner-stones, polished after the 
similitude of a palace. It is he that makes our gar- 
ners to be full, affording all manner of store; that 
makes our sheep bring forth thousands, and ten thou- 
sands in our streets; that makes our oxen strong to 
labor, that gives peace which none can disturb, so that 
there is no breaking in, nor going out, and no com- 
plaining in our streets. 

We should guard against becoming violent partisans 
in the state, to which we belong. Where the real in- 
terests of a country are at stake let good men risk all 
except a good conscience in their defence. But let not 
good men associate with lewd fellows of the baser sort 



PROVIDENCE OVER NATIONS. 211 

in their howlings against law and order. "Beware of 
dogs." 

Let God's people be very careful how they partici- 
pate in a revolution. This may not be done when griev- 
ances are few or light, or when there is any milder 
method of redress, or when it is the favorite measure 
merely of the lawless and profligate portion of society, 
or when the good to be gained bears no proportion to 
the evil to be removed. In such cases it seems to be 
the duty of the suffering patiently to submit, humbly 
using such remonstrance, memorial or petition as is 
generally permitted. Should these be forbidden, let 
the pious man carry his case to God. Thus did God's 
people in Babylon. Daniel, once in great authority 
there, although a captive, was, under Belshazzar, driven 
from court. The most venerable man in the kingdom, 
he was still slighted and forgotten. "Wickedness 
reigned and raged over all the land. The sorrows of 
the faithful were multiplied. By the prophecies 
Daniel knew that this state of things could not last 
long. Yet for the time cruelty triumphed, and he 
gave himself to fasting and prayer. He and his 
countrymen seem to have been denied even the right 
of memorial, until the iniquity of the government was 
full. Then the arm of Omnipotence was made bare. 
In one night Belshazzar w T as slain; Cyrus became 
~ master of Babylon; the revolution was completed; 



212 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

God's people were bidden to rebuild their city; and 
Israel were as those that dreamed, so marvellous w r as 
their deliverance. The character of agitator is anti- 
christian. The character of patriot seeking by just 
means the general welfare and the public good is emi- 
nently commendable. 

Let not good men be overmuch distressed by the 
false charge of being seditious and disturbers of the 
public peace. This slander is old and has often been 
repeated. Ahab brought the charge against Elijah, 
1 Kings xviii. 17. Hainan repeated it against all the 
Jews, whose only offence was that one man among 
them, venerable for age, piety and patriotism, would 
not truckle to a tyrant. Good Jeremiah too, the 
weeping prophet, the lover of Israel, was charged with 
treason. One high in authority said, "Thou fallest 
away to the Chaldeans." Jer. xxxvii. 13. The hum- 
ble, godly prophet Amos was foully charged with a 
conspiracy against the king. Amos vii. 10. In the 
days of our Lord, the Jews greatly hated Caesar. Yet 
when our Saviour reproved their abominable secret 
sins, they said to Pilate, " If thou let this man go, 
thou art not Csesar's friend : whosoever maketh him- 
self a king speaketh against Caesar." Of the apostles 
it w r as said, " They that have turned the world upside 
down have come hither also." " These all do contrary 



PROVIDENCE OVER NATIONS. 213 

to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another 
king, one Jesus." 

All these charges were grossly calumnious; but they 
are repeated against the same kind of people from age 
to age. The world never understands Christian char- 
acter. With it gospel humility is meanness, faith in 
the testimony of God is fanaticism, firmness is dogged 
stubborness. When Pliny the younger, as governor 
of a distant province, wrote to the Emperor Trajan an 
account of the Christians, he said : " I asked them if 
they were Christians ; if they confessed, I asked them 
again, threatening punishment. If they persisted, I 
commanded them to be executed : for I did not at all 
doubt but, whatever their confession was, their stub- 
bornness and inflexible obstinacy ought to be pun- 
ished." In another part of the same letter this pro- 
consul seems to have some relentings, but what can be 
done with men, who have no magnanimity? Many 
refuse to draw any distinction between the ravings of 
fanaticism, and the purest and most humble piety. 
Mobs have often pronounced themselves patriotic ; but 
is there no difference between a mob and a band of 
patriots? And is thei'e no difference between the 
enlightened, humble, unswerving piety of a true 
Christian, and the wild, lawless radicalism, which 
sometimes rises up, not from religion, but from the 
bottomless pit, and assumes the garb of piety to screen 



214 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

or to sanctify its abominations ? The natural enmity 
of the human heart against holiness, the envy of wicked 
men against the righteous, whose brighter lives and 
higher hopes cast a pall of sadness over their character 
and destiny, and the solemn testimony which good 
men in every age feel compelled to bear against the 
reigning vices and darling sins of men sufficiently 
account for the uniformity and bitterness with which 
the charge of sedition, conspiracy and disloyalty are 
made against the best men of every age. 

Indeed it is wonderful how true piety has always 
secured good conduct in subjects and citizens, and 
made them blessings to the land they inhabited. It 
was so in Babylon, where the church of God was in 
cruel bondage. It was so in the Roman empire during 
those three hundred years when 

Persecution walked 
The earth, from age to age, and drank the blood 
Of saints, with horrid relish drank the blood 
Of God's peculiar children — and was drunk ; 
And in her drunkenness dreamed of doing good. 
The supplicating hand of innocence, 
That made the tiger mild, and in his wrath 
The lion pause — the groans pf suffering most 
Severe, were taught to her : she laughed at groans : 
No music pleased her more,* and no repast 
So sweet to her as blood of men redeemed 
By blood of Christ. 

For centuries, had the Christians chosen to retire 



PROVIDENCE OVER NATIONS. 215 

from the empire, their very absence, as Tertullian 
says, would have been terrible vengeance to their per- 
secutors. How long and patiently too did the Vau- 
dois and their pious neighbors bless the very lands 
that persecuted them ! So too in England and Scot- 
land the voice of railing and slander poured its utmost 
cruelty on the heads of the pious Puritans and Cove- 
nanters, men of whom the world was not worthy. 
The greatest historian of England and the greatest 
novelist of Scotland have laid out their strength to 
bring into disrepute these godly men, whose memory 
is blessed. With all his adoration for the house of 
Stuart, Hume is obliged to confess that these men 
were preeminent in the cardinal virtues, and that the 
principles of liberty inwoven in the British Constitu- 
tion were mainly through their agency and sufferings. 
And after all Sir Walter Scott's sneers, one cannot but 
feel that those whom he ridicules will by God be 
adjudged to have filled their place in church and state 
far better than the men who caricature their conduct. 
An eminent writer, a zealous minister of the church 
of England, says : " Many, no doubt, who obtained an 
undue ascendancy among the Puritans in the turbulent 
days of Charles the First, and even before that time, 
were factious, ambitious hypocrites ; but I must think 
that the tree of liberty, sober and legitimate liberty, 
civil and religious, under the shadow of which, we, in 



216 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

the establishment as well as others, repose in peace, 
and the fruit of which we gather, was planted by the 
Puritans, and watered, if not by their blood, at least 
by their tears and sorrows. Yet it is the modern fashion 
to feed delightfully on the fruit, and then revile, if not 
curse, those who planted and watered it" How often 
have the best men been cast out of church establish- 
ments, and then charged with the sin of schism. How 
often have they been fined, imprisoned, hunted like 
partridges on the mountains, or pursued like beasts in 
the wilderness, and yet have been complained of as 
troublesome. They have been driven from home to 
dwell in caves, they have suffered hunger, and shame, 
and nakedness, and perils by wild beasts and savage 
men ; and yet when their patience has been worn out, 
and they have availed themselves of the power given 
them by providence for their protection and defence ;■ 
they have been accused and condemned for not loving 
a government, which gave them no protection, secured 
to them no immunities, but poured the vials of its 
wrath with a terrible indiscriminateness on the gray 
head of ninety years, and on the infant of days ; yea, 
even butchered the unborn babe and crushed existence 
in embryo. 



NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 21 7 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

PROVIDENCE PUNISHES NATIONS FOR THEIR SINS. 

/^i OD'S providence is over both persons and na- 
^* tions. In this world retribution to persons is 
imperfect, for they will be dealt with hereafter. But 
nations exist here only. Whatever rewards or punish- 
ments they receive must be temporal. In thrift, and 
peace, and honor they have their reward in this world 
for their justice, temperance and industry. Here too 
they are punished for their iniquities. 

Sins are national, either by their prevalence among 
a people, or by being sanctioned by national authority. 
When the law-making power of a country decrees un- 
righteousness and frames wickedness by a law; when 
its executive power is wielded for cruelty, or favorit- 
ism; when the judges of a land are corrupt, and justify 
the guilty and condemn the innocent, then a fearful 
reckoning is not far off. So when iniquity abounds in 
the members of a nation, its punishment is near. The 
offences, which bring ruin on nations, are pride, 

luxury, idleness, oppression, extortion, cruelty, cove- 
19 K 



s 

218 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

tousness, profaneness, hardness of heart, ingratitude, 
or any of the sins forbidden in God's word. 

But the Scriptures make it very clear that nothing 
is more offensive to God than the rejection of his Gos- 
pel by a people. The 60th chapter of Isaiah contains 
a prophecy respecting the peaceful and powerful 
triumph of righteousness, concluding with the declara- 
tion that casting off the authority of Christ shall be 
followed by awful woes: "The nation and kingdom, 
that will not serve thee, shall perish." "The charac- 
ter of nations and men," says Dr. Spring, "is decided 
by the Gospel. As they fall in with it, or fall out 
with it, they are saved or lost." 

This is a weighty matter. Let us consider it well. 
These remarks are obviously just: 

1. It is of God's mere sovereign kindness that ever 
the Gospel has been preached, or mercy offered to any 
people. The glad tidings of salvation are the more 
gladsome, because we had no title to such a blessing. 

2. The sending of the gospel to one nation and not 
to another is not owing to the superior merit of the 
favored people over others. "Not for your sakes do 
I this, saith the Lord, be it known unto you : be ye 
ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of 
Israel." Ezek. xxxvi. 32. Where is the nation who 
when they first heard of salvation were not sunk down 
: n many and great sins? 



NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 219 

3. The continuance of the gospel among any people 
is an act of prolonged sovereign goodness. He, who 
kindly gave, may justly take away. All people have 
sinned enough to warrant God in withdrawing all his 
mercies. 

4. Great favors impose great obligations. The 
greater the mercy, the greater the responsibility. The 
Gospel is the greatest blessing ever bestowed on man. 
Therefore nothing equally obliges a people to receive 
the gift with gratitude and to make a right use of it* 

Nations reject the Gospel 

By an avowed and general renunciation of its 
claims and authority, after being made acquainted 
with them. In every land some refuse the yoke of 
Christ. Sometimes many do it secretly. But when 
the hostility is bold and aversion rises to the point of 
malignity, and opposition builds up adverse systems, 
and all this with the clear light shining, a nation has 
reached an appalling crisis. So it was with the Jews. 
Paul and Barnabas said to them, "Seeing ye put it 
from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal 
life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." Acts xiii. 46. 

Let us carefully look at this matter: 

I. Sometimes this rejection is accompanied by anti- 
christian legislation. Such was one law of the Jewish 
rulers, that if any should confess Christ he should be 
put out of the synagogue. Such was much of the 



220 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

legislation of revolutionary France, incorporating into 
its edicts the very spirit of Voltaire's infidelity. 

Sometimes a people go further and cruelly persecute 
all who oppose their wicked course. Ignorantly yet 
rashly to shed innocent blood is a blemish on a human 
government, or a stigma on a benevolent man. Popu- 
lar violence roused by some atrocity may rashly and 
wickedly mete out a too terrible doom. Or a pusil- 
lanimous judge, overawed by popular clamor, may 
perjure himself, and deliver to death one who hardly 
deserves scourging. But when in the spirit of Cain or 
of Nero, a people hunt down, imprison and murder the 
friends of God's truth, their case becomes fearful be- 
yond expression. In his History of Redemption, 
Edwards says : " We read in Scripture of scarce any 
destruction of nations but that one main reason given 
for it is, their enmity and injuries against God's 
church, and doubtless this was one main reason of the 
destruction of all nations by the flood." 

The case is, if possible, yet more alarming when the 
rancorous zeal of persecutors makes them seek to hin- 
der the spread of saving truth among those who are 
not joined with them by social or political ties. Thus 
the cry of the infidels of the last century was: "We 
must set fire to the four corners of Europe," intending 
the destruction of all religion. So the Jews not only 
killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and 



NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 221 

persecuted the Christians, but they became " contrary 
to all men/' says Paul, " forbidding us to speak to the 
Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sin 
alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the utter- 
most." 1 Thes. ii. 16. This was the drop that filled 
their cup of trembling to the full. 

II. Men sometimes reject the Gospel by making a 
hypocritical profession of it. Which of the prophets 
has not lifted up his voice like a trumpet to warn men 
against this sin ? Jesus Christ, in whose lips the law 
of kindness sat, yet uttered the most fearful denuncia- 
tions against hypocrites. For false professions, Ana- 
nias and Sapphira fell dead by the awful judgment of 
God. A hypocritical profession of the Gospel is more 
offensive than a hypocritical profession under any pre- 
ceding dispensation, because it is committed against 
clearer light. The real cause of a hypocritical pro- 
fession of religion is found in the desperate wickedness 
and deceitfulness of the human heart. But the occa- 
sions to it are principally two : First the legislation of 
a country, holding out to professors of some peculiar 
form of religion baits in the way of profit, trust or 
honor. Carnal men in large numbers will submit to 
the drudgery of religious rites rather than forego 
political preferment. Shaftesbury, Collins and Gib- 
bon, bold infidels as they were, were willing to receive 
the Lord's Supper in the church of England, rather 

19* 



222 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

than be shut out of Parliament. Secondly. Sometimes 
public sentiment becomes powerful in favor of a reli- 
gious profession, and in some way makes temporal 
prosperity dependent on a connection with the church. 
There is hardly a state where some one sect is not a 
kind of pet with ungodly men in power. The sect 
most favored is commonly the one that commands the 
most votes, or one whose public ministrations are but 
seldom honored by pungent convictions of sin, or clear 
conversions to God. Those who sew pillows to all 
armholes are the teachers for the men of this world. 
" If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, 
saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong 
drink ; he shall even be the prophet of this people." 
Micah ii. 11. This public opinion, perverted, is potent 
for mischief. It knows no limits. It has no checks 
as every written law has. It can make hypocrites 
faster than the apostles made converts. Nor will any 
true-hearted professor of religion feel the less abhor- 
rence to the adulation offered by cunning men because 
it may be directed to his own denomination. 

III. A general formality without any practical 
embracing of Christianity, a readiness to rest upon 
forms, and rites, and ceremonies, is no less a rejection 
of the Gospel. Outward privilege cannot take the 
place of inward grace. With formalists, profession is 
everything, principle is nothing. "A pale cast of 



NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 223 

thought sicklies over all their religious enterprises and 
turns all their good purposes awry." Ceremony takes 
the place of holy living. Fruitfulness gives way to a 
pragmatical zeal. The receptacles in the temples of 
religion are full of anise, mint, rue and cummin ; but 
justice, faith and mercy are stricken from the roll of 
necessary morals. A staid sobriety and a studied ur- 
banity take the place of genuine solemnity and Chris- 
tian kindness. A puling sensibility is substituted for 
a warm-hearted charity. The Gospel is professed but 
its genius is not understood. Some of its doctrines 
are taught, but it is never dreamed that they require 
holiness. Baptismal regeneration supplants the re- 
newal of the Holy Ghost. Men reach the fearful con- 
clusion that religion consists in forms. 

Such a community, destitute of fervent love may 
soon be filled with fanatics, contemplative and philo- 
sophical, or vulgar and boisterous, or fierce and law- 
less, holding to the bloodiest codes and worst maxims 
of devils, doing evil that good may come, offended at 
nothing so much as hesitancy in receiving their wicked 
dogmas, or resisting their sovereign sway. You might 
as soon find figs on thistles as meekness, gentleness, 
goodness, charity, pity or patience in them. They 
have the Gospel, without the humility it requires. 
They hear God's word, but they do it not. They are 
like the "earth, which drinketh in the rain that 



224 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

cometh oft upon it, which yet bringeth forth thorns 
and briars, and which is rejected, and nigh unto curs- 
ing, whose end is to be burned." Heb. vi. 7, 8. To 
such a people Jesus said : " The kingdom of God shall 
be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth 
the fruits thereof." Matt. xxi. 43. 

Those who thus treat the Gospel bring on them- 
selves incalculable evils. The Scriptures say "they 
shall perish." This perdition is spiritual and temporal. 
Their souls perish, and with them their dignity, their 
good institutions, their outward prosperity. Left to 
themselves, men "grope for the wall at noon-day." 
u They sit in darkness, yea, in the region and shadow 
of death." " Their understanding is darkened, being 
alienated from the life of God through the ignorance 
that is in them." " Where no vision is, the people 
perish." No principle of moral conduct is sufficiently 
clear to the natural mind, nor invested with adequate 
authority to control the heart and life, if one is left 
without a revelation from God. And if one rejects the 
Gospel, nothing can establish its claim to a divine 
original. Without God's word, reason herself is be- 
nighted. The very light that is in men is darkness. 
They know not God. They know not Jesus Christ. 
They have not so much as heard whether there be a 
Holy Ghost. " He, that hath not Christ, hath neither 
beginning of good nor shall have end of misery. O 



NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 225 

blessed Jesus, how much better were it not to be than 
to be without thee/' A soul that has no God is worse 
than the new-born babe without a parent. The worst 
spiritual calamities for time and eternity await those, 
who for their sins are deprived of the Gospel. 

But there is a temporal perdition, awaiting a people, 
who, to their other sins have added the rejection of the 
Gospel. The language of Scripture is awful : " Who 
hath hardened himself against God and prospered ?" 
"The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee 
shall perish." A most heavy vengeance will fall on 
those who having heard the Gospel, count themselves 
unworthy of eternal life. So said God to the ancient 
Jews: "You only of all the families of the earth have 
I known, therefore will I visit upon you all yout 
iniquities." Amos iii. 2. With them the long-suffer- 
ing of God waited many years, but it did not wait 
always. The calamities which finally overtook them 
might be weighed against the miseries of the world 
for any ten centuries of its existence. Any adequate 
description of the destruction of their temple and 
city would be too long for this work. First came 
Titus with his Roman legions, themselves heathen, 
proud and fierce, with the Roman eagle, the chosen 
emblem of prophecy for desolation. A trench was 
cast about their Jerusalem. Then seditions arose in 

the city itself, compared by Josephus to wild beasts 

K* 



226 JEHOVAH-JIKEH. 

grown mad, and for want of food eating their own 
flesh. Thus the city had fierce heathen fpes without, 
and fiercer domestic foes within. Famine with all its 
horrors wasted the unhappy people until the human 
mind can hardly bear the recital. Heaps of slaugh- 
tered men and streams of human gore were found 
around the altar of God. A dreadful pestilence was 
the natural offspring of these things. In short, every 
outward calamity with which man is commonly visited 
fell upon this people from without; while all the in- 
tolerable fires of frenzy, envy and malice raged within. 
This state of things was only diversified by new and 
deeper scenes of horror, mingled with occasional and 
delusive hopes, springing up only to be disappointed, 
until at last the city fell, and the ploughshare of ruin 
was driven over its walls and through its streets by a 
soldiery fierce and brutalized by the nature of the long- 
continued contest between the besiegers and the be- 
sieged. Tacitus says 600,000 souls thus miserably 
perished. Josephus puts the number at 1,100,000. 
In that day was fulfilled the prophecy of our Saviour: 
"Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not 
since the beginning of the world to this time, no, 
nor ever shall be." Matt. xxiv. 21. No man can read 
Josephus' account of those awful scenes without saying 
this prophecy was fulfilled. 

Following the overthrow of the holy city came a 



NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 227 

saddening series of calamities to Jews everywhere. 
Long had they spoken of Gentile dogs; but for cen- 
turies, he who killed his neighbor's dog committed as 
grave an offence as he who killed a Jew. That favored 
people became a by-w^ord and a hissing. 

God also cast off the body of the nation from his 
saving mercies and left them in their sins, hardened 
in unbelief. "Behold therefore the goodness and 
severity of God: on them, which fell, severity; but to- 
ward us, goodness, if we continue in his goodness; 
otherwise we also shall be cut off." Let us not think 
we may treat the Gospel as we please and yet be safe. 
The admonition of God to us is : "Be not high-minded 
but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, 
take heed lest he also spare not thee." If this reason- 
ing teaches anything, it is that God may abandon and 
forsake a Gentile people having the Gospel, for far 
less provocation than led him to deliver the Jews over 
to destruction. For long generations God showed and 
expressed peculiar tenderness to the seed of Abraham. 
Even in their deep revolt from him, God said: "How 
shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I de- 
liver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Ad- 
mah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart 
is turned within me, my repentings are kindled 
together." Hos. xi. 8. Let Gentile churches and 



228 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

nations take timely warning from the awful fall of the 
Jews. 

How instruetive too is the history of the seven 
churches of Asia, addressed in Revelation and warned 
to beware lest their candle-stick be removed. Ephe- 
sus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Phila- 
delphia and Laodicea stand like seven awful beacons 
having inscribed on them: BEWARE!!! Beware 
how you slight the Gospel ! Beware how you leave 
your first love! Beware how you embrace the doc- 
trine of Balaam ! Beware of that woman Jezebel and 
her adulteries! Beware how you defile your gar- 
ments! Beware how you let any man take your 
crown! Beware how you become neither cold nor 
hot! 

The worst judgments are spiritual judgments. The 
sorest plagues are plagues of the heart. War, famine 
and pestilence are God's scourges for the nations gene- 
rally. But the withholding of the influences of the 
Spirit, the closing of the day of grace, and the with- 
drawal of a pure gospel are the plagues reserved for 
sinners of the deepest dye. They are fearful tokens 
of God's fiercest displeasure. 

KEMAKKS. 

1. Let the people of every land study their national 
history. Its pages are full of interest. God is in 



NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 229 

history. Let the people of America be no exception 
to this call. 

2. Let us not trust in man to preserve us. The 
diviners are often mad, and the seers are blind. God 
alone knows enough, and loves enough, and is strong 
enough to protect any people. 

3. Let us all beware of a morbid excitability of 
temper. " The mock heroic falsetto of stupid tragedy" 
will create a thirst for the horrible, till at last our 
people will gloat over scenes of carnage. 

4. "What shall be the future character of the busy 
millions of America, who already begin to compass sea 
and land ? is one of the questions properly called sub- 
lime. Shall they be rude ? The sternest virtue may 
be clad in camel's hair. Shall they be refined ? The 
most debasing vices and the most atrocious crimes 
have often been arrayed in purple and fine linen. 
Shall they have but little wealth ? God hath chosen 
the poor of this world rich in faith. Shall they be 
free ? Freedom is a boon worth all it ever cost. Still 
Joseph in chains was a man, whose presence made 
others feel "how awful goodness is." Daniel in 
Babylon was as sublime a character, as if he had never 
left the hills of Judea, and the waters of Siloah. Paul 
dates several of his epistles from under the throne of 
Nero. But when we ask, Shall this nation be virtu- 
ous ? shall its people know and do the will of God ? 

20 



230 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

shall they meekly wear the yoke of Immanuel and 
welcome the offers of redeeming mercy? we ask the 
gravest questions. " Blessed is that people, whose 
God is the Lord/' All nations shall call such a land 
blessed, God himself shall smile upon it, and in every 
evening and morning hymn shall be sung " The taber- 
nacle of God is with men." When every land shall 
truly receive Messiah, it shall be said : 



u One song employs all nations, and all day,- 

Worthy the Lamb for he was slain for us. 
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks 
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops, 
From distant mountains, catch the flying joy, 
Till nation after nation taught the strain 
Earth rolls the rapturous Hosanna round." 

But if any people learn habitually to slight offered 
mercy their future course will open an Iliad of calami- 
ties, appalling to the stoutest heart. The prophetic 
roll of such a country's history is written within and 
without with lamentations, and mourning, and woe. 

5. Let each man remember his own awful responsi- 
bility to God. The way that nations rise in worth, or 
sink in ruin, is by the individuals, who compose them, 
walking humbly with God, or renouncing their por- 
tion in Jacob. Aggregated masses are the sum of the 
good or ill inwoven into the character of their compo- 
nent parts. The union of good men is right, and it is 



NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 281 

strength. Let every man rule his own heart. He is 
the best patriot, who walks most according to the 
moral law and the example of Christ, and who most 
fervently implores the blessing of heaven on his people 
and country. 

" Blessed is the nation, whose God is the Lord." 
" Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a re- 
proach to any people." 

6. People of America ! Beware how you trifle with 
sin, how you make light of God's authority, and revel 
in iniquity. In ages long gone by, there flourished 
on this continent a powerful race of men. In the 
ruins of their cities and fortifications, we see monu- 
ments of their prodigious energy and resources. But 
they are all passed away. No living man has any 
knowledge of their rise and fall. After them, came 
the red man, commonly called the Indian. Two cen- 
turies ago there were millions of these people where 
now are but thousands. Many powerful tribes have 
wholly disappeared. Others are rapidly melting away. 
It looks as if God would make a full end of them. 
Their nationality has generally perished. And shall 
the myriads, that now swarm on these shores, follow 
in the footsteps of these old transgressors, and alike 
fade away under the desolating power of evil, by the 
curse of Jehovah, or in internecine strife ? O Lord, 



232 JEHOVAH-JIREH. 

thou knowest. O Lord, have mercy, and grant to us 
all unfeigned repentance. 

But some are hopeless cases. Nothing moves them. 
God chastises them, but they make their hearts harder 
than adamant. He invites them by mingled words of 
entreaty and of authority, but they pass heedlessly 
along. A word enters more into a wise man, than 
seven stripes into them. Though they should be 
brayed with a pestle in a mortar, their foolishness will 
not depart from them. In their case we fear the 
worst. "When they cry, Peace and safety; then lo, 
sudden destruction cometh upon them." Yet no signs 
of devouring wrath now strike their or our senses. 
Earthquakes, it is said, are preceded by an unusual 
stillness in nature. Hell follows close on uninter- 
rupted carnal security. 

God calls the whole nation to repentance. The 
voice of mercy is loud and tender and persuasive. 
Will not all, individually, turn and live ? Will you 
renounce every evil way, and believe in Christ ? This 
year you may die. How can you appear at God's 
tribunal without an interest in Christ ? Be persuaded 
to lay hold on eternal life. If the nation repents, it 
will be by each man bewailing his sins, believing in 
Christ, and so fleeing from the wrath to come. "God 

NOW COMMANDETH ALL MEN EVERYWHERE TO RE- 
PENT." Obey, and Live. 



NATIONAL JUDGMENTS. 233 

We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, 

WHICH ART, AND WAST, AND ART TO COME ; BECAUSE 

THOU hast taken to thee thy great power, and 

HAST REIGNED. 



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